Warp to thrill, Swing to kill
by TheSporadicPotato
Summary: "Just because your body's weak doesn't mean that your mental state is." Sometimes, life just doesn't go your way. It certainly didn't go my way, falling in love with someone forbidden, not having any power to protect myself or anyone in general, not keeping promises and failing to replicate Camp's fruit punch all pointed to the fact that I was, and am; nothing.
1. I I

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN PJO, HOO OR ANY OF UNCLE RICK'S BOOKS. CAUSE IF I DID. I'D MAKE PERZÖE A REAL THING**

 **Author's note will be at the end.**

Okay. Before anyone says anything, I can truthfully say that I didn't mean to warp into the Aphrodite cabin girl's bathroom. I had just thrown my sword when practicing to high ground to regain my bearings and- why are you staring at me judgingly!

Alright. Introductions.

My name is Perseus "Percy" Jackson, I'm currently 14 years old and I'm a demigod. What's a demigod? Well, you know greek mythology? Yep. Those big dudes hurling down lightning and bending time are real, that's about it. Really. It's the truth, we even have a camp for special kids like us whose parents are both god and mortal.

What do I look like? Well. I have... Black hair, poisonous green eyes (I like calling them poisonous, but they're just a few shades darker than the Demeter children) and I'm an absolute waste of flesh.

Yeah, I mentioned I was a demigod, what are my powers? Well. I can store up to four weapons at a time and 15 *special* weapons the gods give me and summon them at will-take this with a pinch of salt because I'm repeating what Chiron said. And I can do a super downgraded teleport in battle.

That's about it.

If you were looking for power then go to Thalia or Theo, they're the proper powerful people. Y'know, wielding lightning and bending water.

I haven't been on a quest at all, but Theo's been on two already and Thalia was just recently resurrected from the results of Theo's second quest and currently kicks ass.

Now that I've introduced myself, allow me to describe what happened.

\--Linebreak--

"Perseus! Keep focusing on your defense! You've got that shield stored, use it!" A jovial voice shook me from my thoughts. The voice belonged to Theo, the black haired mischevious son of Poseidon who was currently seated in the backrows of the arena we were in and slurped his seaweed flavored milkshake happily.

"Easy for you to say!" I squinted at him in the dying daylight as a flash of electricity struck a nearby pillar which crumbled instantly when hit. "You didn't piss off Thunder Thighs!"

"Get out of here so I can kill you!" Said person screeched like a hell-kite and marched over towards my general direction, thank god she wasn't excellent at tracking sound. "Theo! Where the hell is he!" She pointed her spear at the son of Poseidon. The boy paled at the sight of her electric-blue eyes and dropped his milkshake when a lightning bolt struck the wooden bench next to him, setting it aflame. He stared at the burning bench and his spilt milkshake before nodding slowly.

"Ah... I just realised that I... Need to buy more seafood! Yeah! Seafood! See ya!" He quickly rose and darted out of the arena and headed to the general direction of the dining pavillion faster than the word "Sparky" could be said.

"PERSEUS JACKSON!" Thalia screeched. I paled, maybe I could warp to a tree and dissapear? I looked for any vantage point in a 30 metre radius. Nope, the only point was a brightly colored archway where I knew that Thalia was waiting for me to warp to. There was a lava wall, but I liked the sword Chiron had given me.

Yep. I was screwed, so what better choice than to throw my sword at the archway and pray it didn't hurt as bad?

Deciding now or never, I threw the sword. It headed in a perfect arc towards the archway and I started to warp, the edges of my vision seemingly stretching and glowing a light blue as I allowed my body to become one with my sword and land at the archway.

But why was the journey taking so damn long? I had estimated that it'd take less than 5 seconds and I always molecularly restructured when my body's speed would allow my weapons to pierce some pretty tough armor, in this case, stone.

So why was I covered in water and glass? My vision was clearing, the white blindness that always involved warping and the clear sound of shattering glass told me two things, my senses were returning normally; so that meant that I wasn't injured and that I hadn't been hit by lightning. But the sound also signified the loss of my 25th sword. My vision had cleared out enough for me to faintly see white shards fade out of existence. Yup, there went the weapon.

I looked behind me and tried to look through the window that I had come through, I could barely make out the details. But one thing was for certain.

I wasn't on the archway.

Where the archway used to be, there was now a smoldering pile of rubble from where the pillars used to be, I watched mutely at the destruction as I spied an empty diet cola can gently roll in the breeze. Great. Chiron was going to love this.

"Gods damnit Thalia, had to make me invade some bathroom"

I looked at the distance from where I had stood and how far I had thrown and whistled impressively, my throwing arm was getting a lot better, that was an insanely large distance covered even with my powers. Hell, I didn't even feel sick from the usual symptoms of long distance warping! I waded through the ice-cold water gathering at my feet and reached the bright pink door to whatever cabin this was.

Then, I promptly fell over, threw up and fainted.

And thus, my story began and ended.

\--Line Break--

 _Exactly 3 hours of cleaning up and girly shrieks_

"So, Perry Johnson, is that your account on the recent incident regarding the destroyed arena and Aphrodite cabin?" A skinny, underweight man took a swig from his 1 litre bottle of diet cola. He sighed and shook his head, mumbling something incoherent about demigods and responsibilities, he stood up. "Your actions have been deemed by me as annoying, rule-breaking and a waste of time" he walked over towards a tabletennis table and placed his bottle on a stuffed lion's head which hung on the wall in an eternal snarl. I didn't know if that was how it had died or that it was insulted to be a drink stand.

That tiny man? That was Dionysus, the greek god of wine. He had been sentenced to work at Camp as the instructor and had been forbidden to drink alcohol because... Well, I can't remember.

I stood up and followed him as he continued his stroll into the kitchen, ducking through a glittering silk cover into the kitchen, I stood straight as the god reached into the white stainless steel fridge and produced a taco.

"So, I've deemed your punishment to be suspended from camp-" His eyes flashed in annoyance when I started to interrupt in protest. "You brought this upon yourself, you've to go to Westover, a place where Demigods like you have some rehabilition" he mumbled through a mouthful of taco. I frowned at him, was Westover a school? Health Centre? Crematorium? Creepy Cult land? Disneyland?

"It's a boarding school" he munched on his lettuce thoughtfully "We haven't sent any canpers there lately because of Kronos and all of that but I lersonally don't think Kronos would do much to target a mortal school with a couple of... Troubled half-bloods." I frowned yet again, wasn't Kronos the guy that Theo had defeated last year? For the Golden blanket or something like that. I tended to not listen to Theo whenever he rambled on about his crazy quests.

"Anyway, Argus will take you, just tell him that you've to go to Westover, he'll get you to Olympus, take the second door to the right when you reach the transportation system." My mind was frazzled, what? I was going to Olympus?! My mouth must've been hanging open becuase Dionysus soon added "You won't be seeing sights, just a quick pop in with Argus and you'll be staying for a week. I'll give you half an hour to pack" With his verdict delivered, he pronptly returned to his "Ignore-all-demigod" state of being and returned to his taco.

I returned to my dorm soon after, well, it wasn't my dorm. The Hermes cabin was welcome enough to house most unclaimed children, which used to be an impossibly large number before Luke had convinced them to turn against Camp.

Luke... I had met him once, and that was just about during Theo's first quest, he had seemed nice enough, offering tours of the camp to anyone new who was lost and protected people from being bullied by Clarrise la Rue and her brothers from the Ares cabin. But who knew what he did alone, he seemed to dissapear when no-one needed him, or maybe his existence was so material to the campers that he seemed to dissapear when no-one wanted him around.

Was that a reason why he had abandoned Camp for Kronos? I picked up a sock and placed it in my clothing storage. Chiron had said that I must've been the son of a minor god of teleportation and storage. A weird combination, if you ask me. But Chiron had taught me how to sort specific compartments and how to summon them, I owed the knowledge of my powers to him. I repayed my debt daily to him by completely humiliating myself in fights and dissapointing him in all aspects of half-bloodedness. Even spelling.

I couldn't even store the most important thing in the world, cookies. Not just any cookies, but my mother's blue cookies. She made the greatest cookies that anyone could ever make and always made them whenever me and Theo visited.

My thought process then went to Theo, the boy who had it all. I wasn't jealous of him, that much, after all, he had saved my mother after she had been accidently captured by a fury for Hades when it thought my mother looked like him. He had power that I could only dream of, and he had gotten rid of Gabe, the useless waste of flesh that had always hated me ever since I was a child.

He had been on two quests, had Aphrodite girls swooning over him and the Ares kids respecting him as he was the only one who had ever beaten Clarisse before.

That was it, he and I were only friends because of a freak accident that had happened. I never even properly thanked him for saving my mother, it was hard to approach the mischevious boy, he would watch my fights and yell out obvioud tips that made me want to smack him, but other than that, the only times I spoke to him was when he had his friends in tow.

His friends...

"No, bad Percy, that's what Kronos feeds on and makes you turn" I scolded myself, trying to avoid the feeling of uselessness and insignificiance. "You do have people who love you, take your mother for example! And Thalia wouldn't kill you if you were her friend!"

But didn't my mother just love me bacuse I was her son? I did nothing for her when she married the waste of flesh called Gabe for my own protection, did nothing when she was captured because I was weak. Thalia just kept me around because I was friends with Theo, after all, who would like to be friends with me? With the lopsided smiles, freckled face and untamed hair? I chuckled sadly at my own joke as I finished packing up my belongings. That wasn't supposed to get dark. I laughed quietly in the empty cabin, of course it'd be empty, everyone was at dinner. Laughing, enjoying themselves with friends...

I imagined Theo laughing at Annabeth jokingly while she ate his vegetables that he had passed when he walked by the Athena table. I imagined how Thalia would be laughing with the Ares cabin about her recent scuffle. "That guy ran! And he went into the girl's bathroom! What a wuss!" I could practically hear them howling with laughter. I imagined my mother, happily dining away at a mortal restaurant without any worries because of Theo, not me.

I tried to imagine myself with them, to laugh like they did, to try to believe the mockery was jokes, and that I was a better fighter.

I tried to imagine myself as not being weak as I threw another Camp t-shirt into my messy storage. Not weak, the weak were friendless, who would like someone weak? Someone who had beeb unclaimed?

I tried so, so hard to create the perfect scene, where I had finished my camp lessons for summer, laughing with people who didn't scorn me behind my back, who didn't laugh at my powers or my skinny frames. It was a scene where I was claimed by my Father, and he-a blurred out face, yet some features were noticeable- had a distinct mischevious smirk on them as he laughed at a joke a blurred out face had said. My mother walked over, next to the bright blue Jaguar that she had recently bought from her hard work in the mortal world, free from monsters because I was protecting her. I'd get in the car, ny friends sad to see me go for the summer and I'd leave, happy and content that my life was going great.

Yeah, I'd like to have power. To not be weak.

"Perseus Jackson, time's up, let's go" Argus had appeared at the doorway of the dark Hermes Cabin, the glow of the campfire lighting up his features. Squinting my eyes at the sudden light, I nodded slowly before following him up to Half-blood Hill, I could hear the abysmal singing of the Demeter cabin and the melodious harmony of the Athena cabin competing for sound dominance. I took a small breath and turned my back towards them, pullibg myself into the van with the hundred-eyed man as he revved the engine, I sank back into the chair.

I'd really like to have friends, if I was being selfish.

Unfortunately, you don't get all things in life.

\--Linebreak--

I expected Olympus to be a grand city built on the foundations of greatness, I expected it to be shimmering gold and filled with happy dancing people.

I didn't expect to be stuck in a grimy subway queuing for a bagel.

Argus had left me with clear instructions, get some food with the small measly allowance he gave me, get the 600th floor keycard from the receptionist in the Empire State Building, head to the left of the transport system and then take the second left... Or was it right? Door towards Westover.

I had my weapons, my shield that Chiron gave to me when I first joined was in the inventory, my sword-proper sword, that is,- which came from Theo when he got a new sword. It's name was Anaklusmos, I dubbed it it's English name, Riptide. It was stored away safely as I thought that it'd be easily lost. Theo had looked at me, offended, when I said he probably would have lost it too many times to count and he sagged, confessing that he had lost it several times but the weapon was charmed to reappear in his pocket.

My other weapon was a long spear which had just been idling in my inventory as I never really had an oppurtunity to learn how to use it. It was just floating in whatever dimension my storage created awkwardly.

My only god-granted weapon was a trident, Theo had said that his father had crafted one when he was told of how I couldn't protect his mother because I wasn't strong enough, the son of Poseidon's bluntness didn't help either, and I will deny to this day that I was not crying over that fact.

And thus, my so-called future ace in the hole was constricted to one trident. It wasn't as awesome as Chiron described it, summoning ethereal forms of the godly weapons that retained some of their original powers, but let me use all of them at once for a short burst of power.

For the record, I had tried to use that power. All that happened was a ghostly shimmer of the trident I had nicknamed Bob before it shattered into ghostly white crystals. Theo had laughed, clapped me on the shoulder and said that more practice was needed as he ate blueberry flavored crisps.

I was shaken out of my thoughts by the kindly old woman serving bagels, she looked at my bag and orange Camp T-shirt and frowned. I mentally slapped myself, of course I looked like a runaway in the night, I flushed in embarrassment at the questioning glances passerbys shot at me as they walked by. The familiar itch that came whenever I was the center of attention started again, my face was growing red again. This always happened whenever I thought I was being mocked or pitied upon. And one glance at the old woman told me enough, I probably looked like a kid with fireants or some kind of problem as I attempted to itch the embarrassment and humiliation away.

"My dear, are you alrig-" I bolted from the line, eyes glued to the ground as I bashed into other people walking towards trains or different stalls. The brightly colored yellow lights indicated where I needed to go, after passing underneath the large fancy stone archway, I leaned next to a wall and breathed. There wasn't anything or anyone here, so I slumped against the wall onto my backside, I could feel the rough stone pillar scratching my bag and imagined it screaming in pain, telling me to stop. Those kind of strange thoughts tended to calm me down. I took a moment to relax before starting to think about what had happened.

Oh gods. I am hopeless.

"Excuse me, my dear?" I jumped, the old woman from the bagel stand was there, holding a pack of bagels that steamed inside the bag; I couldn't help but swallow a large lump in my throat. "You just upped and dissapeared before you could collect your bagels" she smiled kindly as she offered them to me. I stretched my hand out tentatively, wordlessly. Feeling the weight of the bagels and the slight warmth in them, the feeling of warmth spread through my body until I felt safe, comfortable despite the cold evening air. I turned to face the woman intending to state my thanks, after all, she reminded me of hope; something I had all but given up on. And yet, she was gone with the wind, not even the slightest indication that she had ever been there apart from the dusty imprints of her sandals in the dust.

Wait, sandals? Who would wear sandals when winter was right along the doorstep?

I turned to the crowd that was proceeding down the stairs towards the subway and tried to locate the woman, but she had dissapeared, probably back to her stand for business. I shrugged at nothing in particular and looked at the bag, after all, I'd best not annoy her during her business hours.

There was a small print on the flap of the bag, lifting it up; I read it out loud to no-one in particular.

"When all seems lost, come by the hearth... huh" I frowned, was this a business motto? I would have investigated it further had I not smelled the bagels themselves, they smelled of my mother's home cooking, and after taking a bite I was surprised at the warmth that followed after taking a bite, like wrapping your ice-cold hands around a hot mug of chocolate after a long day of snowball fights with friends. They let me relish the warmth, and the previous dark thoughts of loneliness and abandon seemed to drift away as I finished the bagels. Staring at the empty bag rather mournfully, I stored the empty bag and it's crunbs in the backpack which I had received from Argus earlier on.

Come by the hearth... That was a good motto when describing the feeling I had.

And yet, the happy feeling came to a ground halt when I arrived at the Empire State Building. Everything looked professional, high-quality and attractive.

Except for the receptionist.

There sat one of the most apathetic beings in the universe when it came to godly matters, he had taken one look at my orange shirt and groaned slightly before burying his head into a book of... was that names? I had mentioned Westover and the man had lazily given me a keycard, telling him to insert it into the elevator and go to Olympus.

Yet again, expectations of Olympus started rising again as I excitedly inserted the keycard into the slot. Dionysus had said that Argus were to accompany me, but the hundred eyed man was nowhere to be seen, maybe I could have a quick look around?

Yeah, well, the elevator had seemed to be dramatic at first, with its chrome plated doors and red velvet interior, but after a couple of awkward encounters with businessmen on the 20th floor? The elevator lost a bit of it's lustre. I sat myself back down as the lift passed the 100th floor, 500 to go. It didn't seem that bad, all I had to do was keep myself from being bored.

But at the 300th floor, oh boy, that was a time I never wanted to go through again.

The music started.

I hadn't heard it at first, too busy droning out businessmen talking into their phones and quite pointedly asking me to leave because of the filth I brought in and yada yada.

I'd trade the music for businessmen anyday.

Covering my ears at the awful sound saying "Apollo's gr-r-reatest and most aw-w-wesome collection!" I happened to notice a small indent on the ground in a rather familiar scrawl as I buried my head in my knees.

HELP. MUSIC. Yeah, I could recognize Theo's handwriting alright. He had been to Olympus before, stood before the grand council when announcing his deeds. Something I could hope to do one day, if they decreed it so, and if I did anything worth paying attention to. Ignoring the now constant feeling of uselessness, I allowed myself a short bout of laughter as I read the neat scribbling right next to the text.

HE'S RIGHT. DON'T BE HERE. Huh, I didn't know Annabeth had a sense of humor, she must've been in a good mood when riding the elevator.

I had apparently offended whatever spirit that inhabited the elevator, because as I reached the 600th floor, it let out a small ding, opened the door, and the floor literally catapulted me out. As I let out a small indignant "Hey!" At the sudden bright light and impact, the doors slammed closed almost moodily and zipped back down towards the mortal world.

"Ahh... Hermes' famous old elevator trick" A dreamy voice made me turn. There stood a brown haired woman, her eyes were closed and she wore a silky white chiton with golden vines decorating the sides, her eyes were a light vibrant green and as she sighed in her dreamlike state, a small green flower bloomed on the cloud next to her.

Cloud? I looked down in shock. Cloud! I was standing on cloud! Well, kneeling to be exact, but cloud nevertheless! And the temples in the distance on the high groun-cloud! Those were dazzling white temples that shone golden in the evening sun's light! I could barely contain my excitement as I looked around wildly. The woman frowned, as if she didn't expect to be ignored.

"Is this really Olympus?" I asked nobody in particular. The woman seemed to hum in agreement when a bird flew down from a tree that had seemingly sprouted out of nowhere. Wait, where had the bird come from?

"Yes it is child, but I must ask, why are you here if this is your first time seeing this place?" My attention returned to the woman who seemed to engage in small talk with the bird as I tried to rearrange my thoughts.

"Uh... the system" I mumbled dumbly, she stopped her conversation as the bird turned to wood and dissolved into fine woodchippings. I watched as she the proceeded to shrink the tree down until it was a tiny sapling and produce a handful of soil and a pot before storing the sapling inside it. She turned with a kind smile on her face as she stroked the small leaves before handing it to me. I of course, took it without question, mostly because I was in awe of the display of power this woman had.

"Yes... my niece may be one with nature but being the goddess of agriculture does have it's benefit, no? And I even get to cultivate my own cereal..." She sighed contentedly and plucked a small packet of cereal and a wooden spoon to munch on them as she gazed at me. Probably thinking Who the hades is this loser? I'm trying to eat cereal

"Try not to use my brother's name in a curse, he gets moody when people do that, and I don't think you're a loser child. Here, have some cereal" she produced an identical packet of cereal and spoon before proceeding to dump them in my free hand.

"Demeter" she raised an eyebrow "You're Demeter" my voice was questioning, she let out a small dreamy smile before gliding on the clouds.

"Yes my child, you must be under the soil if you don't recognise me straight away" she smiled at her little pun. "Come, walk with me to your... system" she gestured for me to follow her. Not knowing what to really do, and the stares some river and wood nymhs were giving me kind of spurred me on to follow the almighty goddess of agriculture.

"So what brings you here, child?"

"Percy" I answered automatically, probably not the best thing to do when interrupting goddess of absolute power. "My name is Perseus, but call me Percy. I'm 14 years old ma'am, I'm a teenager, I don't qualify as a child" I quoted my mother on my 13th birthday "Can't get any discounts at water parks anymore"

She let out a small hum as she waved her hand, small grapevines started growing on the side of the pathway of cloud. A few nymphs clapped politely and thanked her before starting to trim the plants.

"Very well Perseus, what do you wish to do here?" I had finally gotten used to the whole Olympus holy god thing, and I answered as honestly as I could to the goddess.

"I'm to Westover by sundown, Lord Dionysus sends thy person to rehabilitation" I had finally remembered what my mother had taught me, all gods seemed to like me using old English as some had trouble fitting in with the whole 'Modern American' theme.

Demeter regarded me critically. "That was quite the change in language Perseus" she quipped as an apple tree sprouted by my feet.

"Thine words arf praise to one unworthy of such"

"You do realise that the amount of gods who prefer old English are rather small." Her eyes sparkled in humor.

"Wait. What?" My old English revision had been worth something, right?

"Hmm... It is a nice change of pace, to see other demigods so respectful after that son of Poseidon, such bluntness and disrespect..." I stiffled a grin when the mention of my friend was brought up. Pushing my boundaries because I was the Percy Jackson everyone knows and loves. I continued with my old-English act.

"How did he fare? T'was it not long whenfore you grew from thee roots into thy moden cultivation?" She frowned slightly, as if she hadn't heard such language in a long time.

"I believe we did move from Greece quite a few decades ago. But that seems so short compared to an immortals life, doesn't it?" She smiled beforehand humoring me. "Why, thou manners are of such as a sly-tonged kite. Thine soul is pleased with the blood of mortal kindness" I grinned, she was fast becoming my favorite goddess by far. Well, apart from the fact that she was the only goddess I knew. Still awesome anyway. The journey was short, apparently Dionysis hadn't been kidding when he said that it was right next to Olympus. Several black doors were positioned in a large corridor which seemed to be an entrance to a cave... In cloud. Huh. I could make out shapes of people moving in and out as they went on with their business.

"I am afraid this is where we part, young Perseus" Demeter sighed, her sleepy-like features seemed to awake as she took the plant from my hands. "Moonlace, a beautiful flower which wilts in the sun, but blooms in the beautiful night. One of my niece's favorite flowers"

"Niece? Oh... right... Artemis" I realized, her mouth tugged into that of a smile as I remembered an Olympian.

"Take the door you were told to take, it will transport you to the location where you will stay for a week." How did she know I was looking for the transport system? And that I was staying for a week? My mind burned with questions about the immortals but as I opened my mouth to speak, Demeter placed a finger on my forehead and murmured "Shh, your thoughts must be controlled, else other unwelcome eyes will see them" She meant Kronos, and she knew all the insecurities that I held and yet she did not pity me or stare at me freakishly. Goddesses were indeed benevelont.

"Go, young one, and perhaps we will meet again" I turned numbly and faced the door to the right, yep... The third door to the right.

"Um... Bye Demeter? See you later?" I couldn't help but keep the question stuck in my throat. I wanted to know more, more about the immortals and their powers. More about the powers. The powers.

She smiled sadly, one of pity, yet I didn't feel humiliated or ashamed... Like, she was pitying a part of me, a part of me that I hated myself. "In time child, we will meet again. Though on what terms, I do not know." I didn't get that, were we going to fight or something? "Though your mind is to be corrupted, then perhaps we will see each other again on better terms" Okay. She had me lost with the whole mind-reading thing and this? I gave up trying to understand.

"Very well Lady Demeter, I take my leave" I bowed in respect before turning the knob of the door, feeling warm winds blow gently across my face, I stepped through.

"Such an innocent mind, yet strangled with thoughts unsuitable for one of his age" Demeter sighed as I walked through. "And through the second door he goes, to a rehabilitation he doesn't require"

Wait. Second door?

The third door to the right clicked shut.

And I found myself staring at what seemed to be fifty silver bows aimed at my face. Dark trees swayed slightly in the wind and a small bonfire in the middle of several silver tents danced in the night.

"Uh... I come in peace?" I held out my uneaten bag of cereal and the complementary wooden spoon I had received from Demeter as a peace offering. The bag was shot out of my hands faster than I could blink. I let out a small eep and fell onto my backside.

That was when what probably seemed like the most beautiful girl on the entire planet stared at me like I was some kind of insignificiant bug that had crawled onto her foot.

"Permission to kill, milady?"

 **Boom? Boom. I'm back and kicking ass, well, that's what I think I am. New story. Had a plot form while I was completely immersed in fanfics from one of my favorite authors and Final Fantasy 15.** **If you're reading this, it's either because you've stuck with my unupdating ass for 3 goddamn years or stumbled across this. Nevertheless, flames are welcome, salt is needed for my soup of ideas and positivity makes me shine like the sun. Go ahead, my friends, go ahead.** **Also, if you didn't notice, I'm giving our beloved son of Poseidon a completely new father and powers which were heavily borrowed upon from Noctis, late 14th King of Lucis. So... You know what to expect and expect a whole lot of sass cause the stage is set. And Percy Jackson is kicking ass and taking names**.

 **This is how the weakest become the strongest. Not born with power, nor is it talent. But the will to move on empowers us.**

 **May seem humorous at first but that's for a reason. shit's gonna go off the deep end soon, if you pardon my language**

 **I will probably be here to stay. And just in case that the specific author who's works I absolutely love actually reads this... Then. Review? Hate? I'm a terrible writer**


	2. I II

Well, this wasn't the one-time encounter I expected. Lying on the ground, shivering in the night winds and did I mention the fifty bows pointed at my face with a bunch of teenage girls looking like I was some kind of monster?

Yeah, I think I mentioned the fifty bows pointed at my face. That inspired fear inside my pitiful little human frame.

"Girls, what are you talking ab-" A small twelve year old child with auburn hair and glittering silver eyes appeared next to the dark haired beauty, with a bow in hand; she looked down at me, her expression screaming _What? Did you disturb my sleep?_

"Ah." Her mouth curled in disgust. "Feel free to take your time, don't take too long though, Atalanta is cooking tonight" She dissapeared into the ranks of the other silver clad girls as fast as she had appeared.

 _Must really hate me for something to not be in my presence for such a short time_

"Look-" an arrow landed right next to my leg. "Okay then" I squeaked. I tried to crawl back and immediately banged my head against a tree. "I don't know what's happening, but I'm supposed to be at school right now so..." A silver dagger missed my face by centimetres and embedded itself into the tree behind me. Eyeing how the dagger glinted in the moonligt, I nodded wisely. "So a no?" I yelped when an arrow was shot between my fingertips. "Don't speak, gotcha" great, I was starting to hyperventilate like the time Clarisse found me on my first day.

The fear slowly was building up, and my eyes were filled with unshed tears as I stared up at the girls.

"Look how he cries! What a coward, just like all men should be" A girl in the background snickered. I cowered behind the arrows, cowered like I had cowered from Thalia whenever she was angry at me, cowered when Clarisse told me to piss off when she was giving new campers the "initiation", cowered when Hades had erupted from the campfire in Camp, demanding Theo to arrive at the underworld else my mother would die.

Why was I so weak? Why couldn't I fight and run? What seperated the strong from the weak? In the end, it was always people with others to support them, a strong lineage, a loving parent was what made people strong. I sobbed silently in front of the girls with bows, ignoring how they all laughed and jeered at me. The dark haired beauty seemed to frown and lower her bow, even if it was just for a second before her expression hardened again.

"Phoebe, would thee mind ridding ourselves of this... Male?" The dark haired beauty spat in disgust before walking away. She turned round once more to look down upon me, her volcanic black eyes and silver tiara glittered in the moonlight. The rest of the girls started to turn and walk away as I lay there, frozen and terrified with one final girl who hadn't left.

"So. Ready to die?" The remaining girl, Phoebe shrugged as if this was a question she asked on a regular basis. Her brown hair flowed in the breeze as she unsheathed what seemed to be a serrated knife. "I'll try to not make it painless, you know, because you're _male_ "

"Wait!" I attempted to pull out my mobile armory, or just any storage in general. "Don't hurt me! I don't want to die!" I half-screamed in terror as I materialised whatever I had in my armory, scrambling back against the tree as I threw whatever item I had stored inside my armory at her.

I didn't expect the girl to dissapear under a small mound of Camp t-shirts, trousers and a single sock, but nevertheless, I was fine with the results. Even if it meant using the wrong storage, it got me out of one problem. I choked back a sob that had stayed in my throat and picked myself up from the ground and stared mutely at the writhing mess, and then my hands. Was I truly so pathetic I couldn't manifest my weapons in battle?

She let out a shrill scream of anger which probably could've been heard by every other psychopathic girl in the camp. I immediately paled and bolted as far away from the scene of the... Crime? Was this a crime?

"I stink of _male_!" She screeched like a banshee, her eyes darting around for her knife inside the pile of clothes.

My self-pitying thoughts disappeared when I heard what seemed to be a stampede of human beings chasing after me. Hell seemed to be after my blood and was demanding it too. My fear-induced adrenaline started pumping again as I ran through the undergrowth.

"Come on, the little shit can't have gotten far! He's too weak to run long distances!" I heard a girl's voice and choked back a cry about injustice. Of course only I would die to a bunch of girls because I dumped clothes on them. After all, fate had decreed that I was a nothing, and I'd suffer as much as I would before death, I laughed humorlessly as I burst through a bush, ignoring the feeling of nettles and twigs scratching against my bare arms.

I bet Thalia or Theo would be welcomed with open arms as heros if they were in my situation. I gritted my teeth in ager and furiously wiped the stray tears that had leaked out when I was being chased. Stumbling over a root and cursing silently, I leaned against a tree to gather my breath, while listenig out for the girls chasing me.

"He's somewhere near! Thine wolves can smell thee! Anyone doth capture thee shalt be rewarded with extra venison tonight!"

I almost collapsed in terror, wolves? Was my existence so pathetic it was comparable to an extra serving of venison? I wrenched Riptide from my armory to warp to some high ground where I could cry my problems away, the wolves wouldn't find me, right? I could always run from my problems... Right?

I seemed to forget the bright shattering shards of light which were always produced when I accessed my armory.

"There! A light! It's him!" A silver arrow scratched my face, drawing a fine line of blood along my cheek, it embedded itself in the ground and I stood there; standing there mutely, staring at thebarrow before a single thought came into my mind.

Oh shit.

I let a gutteral scream of fear and threw Riptide into the sky. Feeling the pull of my warp envelop my body, I dissolved into a blur light as I watched Riptide embed itself into a tree.

I warped to the highest point of the tree and watched the blue aftertrail fade with the wind. Maybe I'd be safe here.

Sitting myself on a large branch, I pulled my knees to my chest and shuddered, all of my clothes had been abandoned when I pulled off the escaping stunt, and my bag had been dropped when Phoebe had attempted to kill me. I buried my head in my arms and cried silently through the night, with girls hunting for my blood and nothing to keep myself warm except for the ragged t-shirt which was splattered with dirt and leaves. Lifting my head and staring at my arms, I wowondered whether the situation would get any worse, they were caked with mud and were decorated in small scratches from bursting through the undergrowth, small rashes had also started appearing from numerous different poisonous plants I had torn through.

I fell asleep that night, with nothing but loneliness and howling of wolves plaguing me throughout my fitful sleep. I dreamed of nothing, just the darkness that always came with being alone.

\--Line break--

Well, it looks like they had known I was there the entire time. The entire tree base was covered with claw marks and there lay an approximate of 20 silver and black wolves sleeping on the forest floor. The morning sun was beautiful as it rose, and light showers of rain had started in the distance. It had been a peaceful night, for one. I had been able to recollect my thoughts and calm down from the terror and fear fron the eventful evening before.

So of course I had to mess up and forget that my leg was asleep when trying to stand. There was a reason why no-one wanted me for Capture the Flag, I apparently physically could not be stealthy.

The next thing I remembered was the feeling of falling, an acute pain shooting up my back and the sounds of growls and snarling.

I sighed, exhausted. I was growing tired of this, tired of being pushed around, tired of being nothing. picking myself up from the grass, an ugly feeling was starting to form in my chest. A feeling that brought all the pain I had endured the past night, the lack of sleep due to terror that the hunters would find me and the brief feeling of hatred to everything that had done something to contribute to ththis royal mess that I'd made of myself. I felt... Light-headed, like I could do anything without consequence. It was a feeling that slowly travelled along my body and infected my thoughts and actions. Was this really anger? It usually felt less... Extreme.

My shield manifested just as the single fully-awake wolf pounced, dodging to the side and slamming the side was all I could do before my shield cracked and broke into shards of crystal which melted upon coming into contact with the ground, the mutt whined loudly and backed away cautiously. Snarling in fury, I tore out my spear; waving it around to keep most of the now fully awake wolves at bay. I screamed at them, my voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard and my ears were ringing. Was this normal? I ignored the gold motes of light that had started to rise from the ground when this unknown feeling possessed me.

 _Who are these people? They're just trying to kill you because you're male_

That small poisonous voice hadn't existed in my head before, I shook my head. This wasn't normal at all... But I felt so free! I just let whatever was speaking to me control and influence my mind.

Who were these little girls trying to kill me?! What had I done to them?! Why was I sobbing in grief that life didn't go my way? Nothing good came to me, it was only me that lost his clothes, who was bullied by Thalia and Clarisse, who laughed at me behind my back because I was weak.

That was it, I was weak, I had no power. And without power, I couldn't protect anyone. I needed power, I could practically feel myself hungering for it. I'd even destroy the world for power...

Would I? I hesitated, a wolf breached my defense and lunged at my, using the shaft of the spear, I beat it back into the crowd of wolves. They snapped and howled angrily, probably screaming _Just die already!_

 _You have the power to destroy the gods, all you need to do is just ask..._

I was weak, of course I was. And instead of getting stronger, I decided to rant at the gods for all of my problems being their fault. I remembered how kind Demeter had been and all of my built-up feeling and anger dissolved with my strength... Yes... I was tired, letting out a sigh, I sent the spear that I had summoned back to it's armory before letting my arms flop to my sides. I didn't want this anymore, the powers, the gods, everything about them. I didn't want to be like this, to center my life around one single word.

Power.

I wished the gods would just disappear with their world.

 _Why are you stopping?! Fight! I can show you the power you have!_

Weak. Worth nothing, no-one would miss me if I died... Right? I watched a wolf pace around me as the others slowly backed off as if they knew that I was that wolf's prey. Who would miss someone so power-hungry and self-centred, I brushed the unknown voice aside as I stood on the grass, my shoes were leaking water through the several holes from my running yesterday.

Would death hurt? I mused to myself idly as my legs gave up and I fell down beside the base of the tree. The soil was cool on my face, the morning light seemed warm and I could count the dewdrops on the plants next to me, would death cure me of this condition?

Maybe this wasn't such a bad ending after all, I sighed contentedly and closed my eyes. The 'hunters' I had dubbed them to be could be heard rushing over, their yelling could be heard as they expertly danced through the foliage. Did wolf claws hurt when stabbed? It wouldn't be entirely painless, I let out a delirious smile. Look at me... A lone boy in a canopy, with warm sunlight shining upon me, covered with mud and blood. How heroic and fitting for a pathetic little boy like me.

Huh, mud and blood... Mudblood. I remembered the old book my mother had read with me two years ago. Wasn't that an insult? I smiled and closed my eyes, did I catch a fever? Would I die before they got me? Was it the cold?

Was I cold? No... Just filled with self-loathing and regrets as I saw the pack close in. On the other hand, a hot mug of cocoa would be appreciated right now. I chuckled dreamily at the sudden random thoughts I was having.

Funny... Theo would probably say some kind of heroic last words before dying, he'd save the world, get the girl and the magic powers. I let out a small sad chuckle, as my eyelids drooped. The golden motes seemed to spiral into the air and flew into my body, I felt the emotion of hatred and rage from earlier... But this time, I just shrugged it off.

My vision faded just as the wolf pounced.

\--Linebreak (No POV change... woooooow)--

This didn't look like Hell, it didn't look like anything. Just pitch darkness with a pair of golden eyes watching me.

"Hi?" I stuttered, was this death coming to reap my soul "Am I dead?" The pair of eyes didn't respond. Of course, they were eyes.

That was, until the voice echoed in my head, the voice that sounded like steel being torn in half

PERSEUS JACKSON

"Uh... hi?" I squeaked, I couldn't even feel my body, even if I did; I'd probably be cowering on the spot.

YOU NEED POWER. It wasn't a question, I did nothing but mumble in agreement.

I CAN GIVE YOU POWER. Suddenly, the blackness was replaced by an image of Camp. It was burning, monsters were fighting the campers that were still standing, the rest were unmoving on the ground either sleeping or dead. I doubted it was the former. POWER DO DESTROY THE GODS WHO ABANDONED YOU.

"What do you mean... Power?" My voice trailed off as I stared at a golden ring which floated towards me as the image of Camp twisted and shattered into glittering crystal shards. "Answer me!" My pupils were dilated from lust and want.

SHOW YOUR ALLEGIANCE

The dream collapsed in on itself and all I could see was blackness. No eyes, nothing.

Just. Darkness.

\--Linebreak--

"Wake up!" A rather worried voice woke me from my... Dream? Was that a dream? I could feel something jagged in the palm of my right hand but I shook it off, saying that it was probably a branch. There crouched an old lady in the general direction of where the voice came from, I looked up wearily into this new would-be killer.

"Perseus, are you alright?" There were no wolves, and the warmth I felt was not from the sun; but instead from a towering column of flames. "It's alright young one, the hearth won't harm you" she added quickly as I raised a mud-caked arm to point at the flames. I let the arm flop down and the jagged object rolled out. It was the ring the golden-eyed being had given me, it rolled once in the grass and came to a stop. As I watched it glint in the sunlight, the woman who had saved me took a sharp intake of breath and held onto me tightly.

"It's fine, you can rest now. Nothing's here to harm you as long as I'm here" The feeling of warmth slowly enveloped my body, it was nothing like the hate and rage that had built up inside of me earlier... It reminded me of the bagel I had eaten the night before. The woman sounded as if she was trying to convince herself with her words too. "You're safe"

 _You remind me of happiness_

"Of course" The lady seemed to read my mind. "Since I have no throne, I go where I please and encourage positive feelings in the mortal world by spreading happiness." Such a noble idea, befitting to someone with power. "Perseus, your mind is tainted with thoughts I would rather you not have." Her voice sounded stern... Motherly. She sighed, "If only the gods were more responsible and would take care of children, this... Kronos" she spat rather hatefully, which was a surprise since she had been so kind to me before. "Is ruining our family and making children do what we should"

The woman reached over and picked up the small ring, murmuring a language I couldn't recognize. The ring burst into flames that flickered and danced in her hand until nothing but blackened dust remained.

 _Can I see who you are?_

I wanted to see the face of my savior, but my head was still facing the column if flames in her lap. As if she was reading my mind, she adjusted my head to face her, and boy. I was in for a surprise.

It was the old lady from the bagel stand.

She chuckled softly "Surprised? I usually reside as my younger form at Camp Half-Blood. You may have seen me at the bonfire nights" I shook my head, I never appeared at bonfire night. What was the point in keeping myself awake when other didn't need me there? She flicked my forehead crossly. "Don't think like that" I smiles at her kindness, well, it was supposed to be a smile but my exhaustion could only have me manage a small twitch.

She brushed some mud from my cheeks and smiled kindly. "My name is Hestia, the goddess of the Hearth. The hearth has all positive warn feelings and I believe myself to carry them out into the mortal world." The column of fire dissapeared to reveal several wide-eyed girls and that annoying little twelve year-old who had decided my fate. Said twelve year old approached us and pulled a bow out of thin air, pulling back the drawstring and raising the arrow, she pointed the bow at me.

"Lady Hestia, please refrain from touching the-" Hestia cut off the twelve year old with a wave of her hand.

"This boy is under my protection, please see him to Westover Artemis." If I could move, I'd have done a double take. 3 Olympian goddesses in under 24 hours?! Hestia must've heard my thoughts because she then smiled.

"Yes, young one. That is Artemis, the goddess of the Moon, Childbirth, Maidens and the Hunt" She picked up my frail body easily, as if I weighed nothing. "Artemis" She addressed the girl sternly. "I apologize but your camp is the only place where we can contact Apollo, his illness is not of natural cause." She looked at the charred remains of the ring distastefuly.

"What?! But-" Artemis stopped at the look that Hestia had on her face. I looked up hesitantly at my saving grace, her face was one of sadness and self-loathing. "Very well" She hissed. "We will take the... Male" She spat the word as if it was venom inside her throat, lowering her bow and dropping her arrow (Which dissapeared on impact, kind of like my powers). A few other girls muttered their dissent, and as I looked around tiredly with my eyelids drooping yet again. I spotted the dark haired beauty frowning at me strangely, honestly, I had the worst luck. I thought that the most beautiful person in the world was a hunter of Artemis. Hestia looked down and smiled knowingly before looking back up to Artemis. I would've blushed if I wasn't currently fighting to stay awake by drinking in the details if the girl. Black hair that was braided and held in place with a simple but beautiful silver tiara, coppery skin that seemed to dazzle in the sunlight with volcanic black eyes that stared at me critically.

"A word, my niece. There's also another favor I require you to do for this chi-" Was all I heard before I succumbed to my eventful sleep.

DO YOU ACCEPT

"You're not telling me everything!" I yelled back into the darkness. "What do I have to do?!"

DESTROY THE GODS

"What? Why would I destroy them?! Demeter and Hestia are kind to me!"

MY DAUGHTERS SEEK TO MANIPULATE YOU INTO FIGHTING THIS WAR

"I... I... T-that can't be true!" I screamed back, my voice growing hoarse fron yelling. "I believe that-" I was cut off by the golden eyes again, they flashed dangerously before fading into darkness.

I CAN GIVE YOU THE POWER TO COMMAND OVER THEM. OVER GODS.

I woke with a start, I was still in the goddesses arms and it seemed like not a single second had passed. Hestia was still talking to Artemis and the girls were still muttering and pointing at me.

On the bright hand side, I managed to interrupt the conversation between two powerful deities by coughing blood onto myself-and Lady Hestia's arms.

"-ain him, is that accept- Perseus! What's wrong!" My vision was becoming dizzy, I felt like I was slowly but surely slipping away bit by bit. Almost as if I was warping... This feeling... It felt foreign, yet familiar.

"PERSEUS!"

\--Ha you thought the linebreak was earlier--

It was a pleasant feeling, having a pleasant breeze blowing on my hair gently and a pad placed on my head to cool it. I didn't want to open my eyes, it felt like bliss.

Of course, someone always ruined it.

"Phoebe. See to thine guest" was all I heard before a fist slammed into my stomach.

I choked in pain and sat up, looking around frantically for any assailants, I would actually be pleasantly surprised if i wasn't in pain. I was lying in a large silver bed inside a massive silver tent, curtains were put up around ny bedside and I mentally scoffed at the maturity of these girls. Signs had been taped onto the curtains saying _Stay away from male_ hastily scribbled in bright silver pen decorated the entirety of the tent.

It seemed to be a medical tent, but that was all the observation I managed to get before narrowly avoiding a fist to the face.

To me left sat the psycho girl who had attempted to kill me, and ti my right sat the girl that I had admired so much in the forest. She sat herself on a chair as far away from my bed as possible and looked at me, her expression was one of pride and regality.

"Why don't you do!" Phoebe snarled before drawing a dagger, my eyes widened in terror; I wasn't wearing anything except a few bandages around my arms. Nothing to protect myself from a blade. I reacted quickly, pulling Riptide out of it's armory with my right hand and using the pillow I had been using as a shield with my left hand. I kicked back and rolled off the bed to face my attacker.

And rolled right at the feet of the girl, her eyes showed no emotion except the smallest surprise when she saw my sword, her knuckles seemed to turn white as she gripped the chair edges.

"Put thine sword down, _boy_ " I hesitated but dropped the sword back into storage. it's form became transparent and it floated back into me. I kept the pillow though, after all, it was the only defense i had.

"Percy" I corrected automatically, probably not the best thing to do with two girls who had just recently wanted my blood. "It's Percy, or Perseus Jackson. I kinda like Percy though, doesn't make me sound stuck u-" I let a short yelp when the dagger missed my head and tore through the curtain behind me.

"Phoebe, Thy request was to stir thee" The girl came to my rescue, her eyes narrowimg when she looked me up and down, nothijg impressive, really. I was skinnier than Travis Stoll, and he could fit in some pretty narrow hiding spots. I raised my pillow in defense as Phoebe walked by me to pick up her thrown dagger.

"Zoë, you're no fun"

And that, was the 'fated' encounter with Zoë Nightshade

 **This chapter was written at 1 in the morning. I will edit it over the course of today and post changes.** **I feel extra deprived today, must've been because of the writing splurge I went on yesterday.** **Well. 6 reviews in under 12 hours... That's a world record. Wow. I'll be answering reviews in the next chapter because I need a nap right now, sorry people.** **See y'all in 3 hours**


	3. I III

"Zoë... Right?" I started to speak now that the danger had passed. She nodded curtly and clasped her hands-perfectly cut nails by the way- and stared at me expectantly, seated with her perfect posture and regal expression; I couldn't help but wonder whether she was royalty or not. "Can... I leave?" Another nod. "Where are my clothes?" I shivered slightly in the draft that came from the open flap of the tent, my whole entire upper body was nude apart from the several bandages wrapped around my arms; the Hunters hadn't been kind enough to apparently waste a blanket on a male it seemed.

"There... Milady left a note for you too" She finally spoke, her voice as beautiful and melodious as a siren's song. She cocked her head to the side slightly as I stared at her, gods, she was beautiful. I hesitantly backed away from her, those volcanic black eyes unnerved me; as if they were studying my very being and deciding whether or not I was deemed worthy to live.

 _Fitting attitude for royalty... I suppose,_ I mentally slapped myself at the terrible joke, I must've made a face since Zoe then stared at me coldly and curled her luscious red lips into that of a quiet snarl.

"Was there anything else?" I was snapped out of my stupor at the sound of Phoebe's voice; she was now standing in front of Zoe protectively as I had started speaking to her, as if my very existence was potentially harmful towards them. "Because if not, I'm sure the lieutenant and I would like to rid ourselves of male filth" She hissed, was her eye twitching? Nodding silently at the intimidating girl, I stumbled past the pair who had already started to leave, I watched Zoë turn and debated my next words; after all, I was already pushing it by approaching the lieutenant of the Hunt half-naked. I bit my lips anxiously, would I be castrated for a simple gesture of gratitude?

"Um!" I trailed off, both girls turned to look at me, one of questioning and the other with irritation. "Thanks..." I mumbled towards my feet, Zoë gave another one of her criticizing looks and left, Phoebe -snickering at probably my insignificance- soon following after, passing her dagger in-between her hands as if she had the sudden itch to gouge out male eyeballs.

"Thank Milady; she was the one who brought you here to be healed from your condition." Zoe's final passing note was muffled by the tent flap closing behind her; I nodded slowly at the back of the two girl's heads before flushing with embarrassment. I probably acted like a lovestruck fool! I pinched myself in embarrassment, why couldn't I act all cool like Theo in times like these? He'd say something witty and have the whole Hunt wanting him to be their Guardian or something... Next thing anyone would know; He'd become Artemis' first male boyfriend. I snorted in derision as I walked towards the desk where my clothes were.

 _Theo is shackling you_

There it was again, the small voice at the back of my head, ignoring it; I looked at the clothes that had been set out. Grinning slightly when I recognised my clothes from the rather eventful night before; I'd thought they'd have been burnt to a crisp by the bonfire after my little stunt with Phoebe. I admired the shirt's cleanliness and the trouser's crispness before pausing when I found my socks, maybe some kind of god of cleaning had paid me visit.

Correction: sock

A single black and blue striped sock lay there, probably some kind of prank by fate since I didn't have shoes either, they must have been discarded when I arrived here, all covered in dirt and blood. Sighing for what seemed to be the 100th time this morning; I wriggled my right foot into the oversized sock. My left foot was covered in bandages from seemed to be nettle stings and scratches, if the stinging sensation I had been trying to ignore when conversing with Zoe was indeed nettles then I'd be in for a world of hurt for the rest of the day.

I sighed as I looked down at my clean body; it had been an eventful night indeed, staring down at my bandages... I had the temptation to tear them off and see beneath, but something told me that the action would injure me a lot... Obviously.

Wait... How was I clean?!

Fearing my manhood, I did a quick check of my... sensitive spots and was safe to say that I was untouched; maybe they had some kind of robot whose special function was to _clean male filth_. Sighing in relief, I quickly shoved on the shirt and changed my trousers, instead of discarding the used pair onto the floor; I threw it inside my now-empty clothes storage. The damaged trousers glowed brightly before shattering. When I had finished with all my menial tasks I picked up a neatly folded note that somehow smelled of pin-Hey! I couldn't help it! - pine and unfolded it, written in the smallest of letters was a single word. "Arena"

Did this place have an Arena? When I had first arrived, all I saw was a couple of tents and a bonfire... Then again, I did have a few weapons pointing at me. I chuckled dryly at the sarcastic joke before walking out of the ten and shielding my eyes from the sudden glare that came from the morning-or was it afternoon already?- sun. I could practically swear that the tent looked smaller on the outside. I held up the flap and darted in-and-out the tents just to check, sure enough. The tent's insides looked at least five times larger than what it looked like on the outside.

"Yep, that's actually pretty cool" I murmured, ignoring a pair of hunters who walked by and gave me a pair of weird looks that clearly said _strange male, stay away_. I brushed my seemingly spotless hair away from my face when a bright flash seemed to light up my shadow on the surface of the tent. Realising that a god had flashed in behind me, I quickly turned to face the god to bow to whoever it was.

"Lady Demeter?" I blinked several times at the Goddess' feet, sure enough, the Greek goddess of Agriculture, Grain and the Harvest smiled at me kindly, I could recognize the vine-patterned chiton and blooming flowers from anywhere.

"Oh, Perseus, what a surprise" She didn't sound surprised, if else; she sounded pleased. "I had originally planned to chase after you as you went through the wrong door, but a disaster in Japan had me see to their rice plants for an extensive amount of time." She sighed dreamily, reaching down towards my kneeled form; she cupped me head in her hands delicately. I shuddered, her entire body radiated of ancient power, power that would signify her as an Olympian.

"How interesting... I assume you've met the kindly one?" She lifted my head gently to face me, a small smile of satisfaction on her face as she probably read the answer in my head.

"Uh..." The power radiating was near-suffocating, I had trouble forming words in my head. "The Furies that serve... Lord Hades?" I tried to recall the name from the book of _101 Monsters and How to Fight_ _Them_ Theo had given me from 'Circe's island' apparently after he had returned from his quest to save Thalia's Tree.

"No, silly child" She hummed to herself in amusement. "Hestia"

I let out a sound which was supposed to be 'What?' My throat honestly wasn't working at this point. How had I not felt this way before on Olympus? Demeter frowned at me slightly before an apologetic look came upon her face. She smiled at me and clicked her fingers, immediately, my chest felt like an invisible weight had been lifted off of me and I sighed in relief before asking the question again.

"Uwah?" I mentally slapped myself at my stupidity.

Demeter seemed to understand, as she pulled me to my feet and patted my shoulders in a manner akin to a mother praising her child. "Yes, I did not sense the dark thoughts that plagued you the night before..." She touched my forehead with a single cool finger and frowned, her sleepy-like features made an expression akin to that of distaste.

"Those thoughts still hang in your mind like how a tree's branches and leaves prevent other smaller plants to grow and cultivate." She sighed slightly just as an auburn haired twelve year old child burst out from the silver tent opposite of the medical tent I had just left looking extremely annoyed.

"I'm sure he'd be here by now... That useless brat" She hissed angrily, hunters parted from her path as she glided down the manmade path that connected the tents together. They bowed their heads in respect and continued carrying on with their lives as she passed. Looking around the camp, her silver eyes flashed dangerously as she tried to locate someone, it was strange really; she was the goddess of the Hunt, how could she not find the person she was hunting? Demeter stood on my foot lightly, I looked up to her in confusion before blushing; I forgot that gods could hear my thoughts. How annoying. She let out a small chuckle before I focused my attention on the angry twelve-year old Olympian.

"He better not have ran" Her eyes finally landed on me before widening slightly in shock at the sight of Demeter before narrowing in anger. Surprised at the sudden change of attitude I took a hesitant step back behind Demeter, Artemis liked her... Aunt? More than me, probably. She started to march towards us around the remains of the previous night's bonfire, her footsteps silent as she sharply made her way towards us.

"Demeter! I didn't know you'd be visiting! Would you like me to fetch Alice?" Her tone was emotionless, yet her eyes shone with joy and surprise. Demeter smiled and withdrew her finger from my forehead, leaning down onto the ground; she waved a hand and immediately a small silver-colored familiar plant sprouted out the ground. She scooped the small plant, crumbling bits of soil dirtying her white chiton before they disappeared without a trace of color on the Olympian's dress.

"Hello, my dear niece. It is good to see you again, I'm afraid I can't visit my beloved daughter right now, I was just checking on young Perseus here and was about to give him a gift" She offered the small plant, Moonlace, I remembered, Artemis happily accepted the plant before frowning slightly.

"Gift? How is he so deserving of a gift? I haven't seen any qualities in him that demand a gift from an esteemed goddess such as yourself" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Is he your child? You have the same eyes, albeit different shades" Demeter let out a small tinkling laugh,

"Of course not, his eyes are that of the flowers that Persephone brings back during the spring. No, I have my gift because he is weak; he needs a strong weapon if he is to improve."

 _See? Even the so-called kind ones know that you are powerless, weak._

Of course I'm weak, there's no other overused word to describe me, my shoulders slumped and I cast my gaze to the small hole on the ground where the Moonlace plant had sprouted from. Maybe the golden-eyed being was right. There isn't anything here wor-

"Perseus?" Demeter's dreamlike features had disappeared; she narrowed her eyes in suspicion before they returned to her usual dreamlike state, albeit rather troubled. "Please head into the arena, I have some private matters to discuss with my niece here." She gestured to Artemis, whose eyes were narrowed and mouth was pursed.

"Of course" I had to obey them, after all; an Olympians word was absolute. I shrugged in confusion of the Goddesses' sudden change of attitude. I looked behind my shoulder one last time at the Goddesses who had started murmuring and conversing rather quickly. I only caught snippets of conversation as I walked towards the tent

"You heard him, didn't you? Do you think Kro-" Was the last thing I heard before I disappeared into the same tent that Artemis had previously come out of. Any thoughts I had immediately went blank when I stared at the sheer size of the area. Hades, it was the size of Camp's arena if not bigger! The entire room was lit in a silvery light as numerous braziers flickered with an ethereal silver light when the small breeze entered the room.

Several girls littered themselves amongst the stands and benches, either sharpening daggers or attaching arrowheads onto arrows. I looked around in confusion when the entire arena had gone quiet, nothing could be heard from the fights that had stopped abruptly and the avid chatting had ceased entirely.

Each and every single girl was staring at me, all with the same expression: Disgust.

Blood rushed to my head, I stumbled back in panic. Had I done something wrong? Was I going to die? Maybe I shouldn't be here; my mind attempted to reason with my heart. Nope, I'd rather disobey a direct order from two Olympians than to be stared at like this.

I slowly backed up and my hand went reached behind for the flap, instead; I accidentally poked something with my finger when I had tried to find the zip. Turning in slight shock, I found myself face to face with the woman who had just saved my life, the bagel lady stood behind me albeit much younger than her old lady form. Hestia, if I remembered correctly, the maiden goddess of the Hearth.

And I had just poked her in the eye.

She cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow as I stumbled back away from her and landed on my backside, the few girls who had watched the scene snickered maliciously before returning to their previous conversations; probably content with the fact that in a second, the goddess of the Hearth would melt me faster than cheese on a hot grill.

"Perseus" Her tone was rather annoyed. "I do not encourage violence at all, but I was sent by Demeter to... Keep you in check" Her mock annoyance was pretty hard to detect, and I thought that I had been in some serious trouble.

"What? D-did I do something to a-annoy Lady Demeter?" I squeaked in arguably the manliest way possible. Her features softened before she let out a small chuckle, her laughter sent ripples of warmth down my spine and my body subconsciously relaxed. She patted my head endearingly before pulling me to my feet. "Relax unkindled one, I was only joking. However, I do have some business to attend to; follow me" I nodded shakily before following her mutely as she began to glide down the stairways towards the center of the arena.

I ignored the loathing stares sent my way and stared at the back of the Hearth goddess' head mutely; I honestly couldn't do anything in this situation. No people to laugh off the situation with, no points of vantage to relocate myself to and completely surrounded by girls sharpening their weapons. I swear that the moment I passed one; their sharpening changed from a casual, disregarding action to a menacing and frightening action as they glared at me.

Shivering in a cold fear as I walked closer to Hestia preferring her kind warmth over the Hunters' cold hatred, I hadn't noticed that we had already arrived at the center of the arena and that she was conversing with two Hunters who seemed to nod in respect, shoot me a glare and run off.

Honestly, why did the world hate me so much?

"-oebe have agreed to train you at Artemis' commands, I expect great things from you unkindled one" I blinked at her. "-Or not" She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, "It wouldn't hurt for you to actually listen, would it?"

I made a super-intelligent sound that probably sounded like "Uh...?"

"Oh dear, just what on earth am I going to do with you" She let out a small laugh; I flushed in embarrassment and stared at the ground. "Ah, there they are" Hestia pointed to two girls emerging from the flap by the tent and let out yet another quiet laugh. "Oh dear, they've outdone themselves just for some training"

Looking up in curiosity, I stared at the two approaching silver-clad girls in a somewhat fearful fashion. They were wearing several sheaths that seemed to decorate their body. There was one on the leg, three on the waist, one by their breast pocket and another on their arms. The bow and quiver slung around their back wasn't helping much with my jitters too.

It didn't help that one was the scariest girl alive and the other the arguably the most beautiful.

"So we just have to crack his skull in? Seems good" Phoebe practically snarled when she spotted me, I don't know whether or not my body was cowering from her or that my face had paled because she soon grinned. "You should be scared; it's the one emotion you boys can actually feel."

 _Oh, I wish I was emotionless._

 _I can make you that._

 _Shut up._

To my surprise, the voice obeyed and I could almost feel like retreating from my mind to do whatever strange voices murmuring destruction in your ear do in their spare time. I looked over at Hestia questioningly; she probably hadn't heard the small conversation because she seemed too fixated on both scolding Phoebe and fixing her hair.

"Now, I'm no Aphrodite but it sure does look like it stings whenever you wear that hood of yours." She seemed to treat the Hunters as if they were her daughters. "And you, young lady-" She stated as Zoe descended from the stairs. "-have skin far too pale for my liking, Artemis really should put you out in the sun more" Zoe rolled her eyes and quickly retorted. "Thine age tis not one of youth" even if her stone-cold expression didn't portray it; her eyes danced with mirth.

"Oh, you're only a few millennia old. Not even a blemish on your skin and no wrinkles! Aphrodite would love to hear your secret" Hestia rolled her eyes and patted Phoebe on the head. "There, all set and ready for training" The scary girl had kept quiet during the entirety of the exchange and rolled her eyes before fixing her hair back to its former position. "My hair's fine the way it should be, Hestia" The corners of her mouth twitched, as if she was trying to smile but wouldn't because of the 'damned' male right next to them.

Was this how their life normally was? I felt the familiar feeling of envy creep up again. They had friends so close to themselves they were deemed family? They even addressed Olympian Goddesses without any respect? I sighed, self-pity parties weren't going to make me strong. I took a step back and patiently waited for their conversations to finish, catching Hestia's eye, she pointed behind me discreetly and smirked as she pampered the two frightening girls. I frowned in confusion before looking behind me; there lay two packages, one was an extremely large package-larger than me! - And looked like it was hastily wrapped in red wrapping paper. I turned back around and did my best deadpan-Zoe stare at the goddess, she let out a tinkling-if not embarrassed- laugh and continued to brush Phoebe's hair as she conversed with Zoe, the second package wasn't even wrapped in paper, vines seemed to have grown around it and the leaves growing concealed the 'present' well enough.

Was it even a present? Was this some prank and they'd bomb me with a bag of Thalia's socks? Would Theo jump out with fish cakes and a blueberry milkshake screaming "SURPRISE?" I reached down to the biggest package and lifted it, wow; it was heavy, my frail arms had a massive amount of trouble lifting up the bright red abomination and the _sheer_ amount of tape used could make the package glow in the silver light. I stared at the package and sighed; was this some test from the gods? Athena, maybe? I crouched and tried to examine where the tapes ending point was when I overheard Hestia finishing up with the girls.

"I really must be going, Camp's fire is growing dim you see, I really should tend to it" Hestia brushed some stray dirt off of her chiton, "Now I encourage violence as little as the next person does but know this, Perseus-"Her voice was raised so that I could hear her, I turned my head slightly to see the goddess' face as she spoke. "They are both weapons to give you power, use them wisely. And treat them with care" Hestia smiled at my shocked expression before disappearing in a flash of flames.

Okay... Walk in; get some gifts-from an Olympian Goddess-... What's next, Phoebe trains me?

Oh. Hades no, what had I done to deserve this curse?

A small note appeared in a flash of flames right in front of me, I yelped when it came into contact with my hands despite it having a lukewarm feeling. The hastily scribbled note read _I heard that!_ Before it burned up in my hand and all that was left of the apparent goddess sass was a small pile of ashes.

Phoebe was still glaring at me and Zoe was still staring at me strangely, after all; it was pretty strange to see me smiling when there was an entire stadium filled with bloodthirsty girls after my head. I couldn't help but notice the small things, how the silver braziers danced in unison, or how the girls seemed to ignore my presence entirely.

On the bright hand side; the tape had 'mysteriously' disappeared, and instead of any offensive shiny redness the package originally had, there was another smouldering note saying _you're Welcome._ The note slowly burned away with bits of the wrapping following it as I hummed my mother's favourite tune _Stand By Me_ by Florence + The Machine, maybe the weapon would be something I could actually use.

A massive greatsword fell out of the wrapping and almost beheaded me. Falling back in shock, I looked at the massive blade that had crashed down to the ground, sending dust clouds up into the air around it. I stared mutely at the silver blade, it was an ornate blade decorated with depictions of flames and a single engraving of a hearth was carved into the blade's hilt.

I took a look at the greatsword, then at myself before squeaking a small "Nope!" before turning to my smaller-presumably kinder vine package.

I didn't expect the blade to fly into me, but who knew? Everything crazy was happening this week and a massive greatsword disappearing into my body with a flash even though I hadn't placed it in my armory was the least strange thing happening to me today. And yet, I could feel a familiar sense of something being added to my storage. I ignored the sigh of boredom Phoebe let out as she continued sharpening her knives and for once in my entire life-Zoe stood there awkwardly, as if she didn't know how to deal with what was happening, she let out a small sigh and proceeded to join Phoebe as I checked my storage for Hestia's blade.

 _Clothing essentials... Nope, Armory... Nope, Books... Nope, Anti-Stolls devices... Nope... Heraldic Arms... Nop- wait what?!_

There it was, the blade that had attempted to murder me, floating innocently as it rotated around me like a carnival ride as I rotated the armory just in case I hadn't missed anything else. But nope, there it was, the Blade of the Hearth floated in its ethereal glory next to Bob.

"Are you done yet? Lunch isn't till 3 and I'm bored" Phoebe's bored drawl snapped me out of my awe; my tune faltered and I looked back at the two girls who were absently drawing pictures in the dirt with their daggers. I can't even believe I forgot the two! I mentally slapped myself at my mind's refusal to think clearly and nodded.

"Great, let's get this damned thing done already." Phoebe stood up and stretched before she pulled out a second dagger and readied herself into a stance. "Milady and Demeter expect great things from you. Don't disappoint"

-Line break-

"Wow," Phoebe blinked as she stared down at my crumpled form. "You can't fight at all" Her blunt comment didn't even affect me at this point-this was the twenty fourth time I had been beaten, and Phoebe hadn't even broken a sweat yet. "Are we done? Can I take a rest, Zoe?" She absently brushed some dirt off her shining blade. "I'll give you a shot at beating the male, it's actually a lot more refreshing than I thought" I groaned a muffled retort which she probably didn't hear as Phoebe fished through a bag a Hunter had brought during my fourteenth fight. She rolled a small flask towards me, its cool metal coming into contact with my forehead. "Nectar, pick yourself up and get ready for Zoe" The stoic girl had been sitting silently on a bench throughout the entirety of my fights, spending each and every one analysing me with her critical eye. I hastily followed Phoebe's orders and brushed the dirt off my dusty shirt. Zoe had already leapt over the boundaries and was walking over to me by the time I had already emptied the flask and the familiar taste of blue cookies filled my mouth.

"Ready?" Her expression hadn't changed a single bit, how weird. I snorted to myself and nodded before readying myself to pull out Bob or Riptide. "Then let's start" with that, she charged at me with her daggers covering every single point of her body.

I dodged clumsily to the right and swung Riptide-which had appeared in my hands with a flash, it was deflected easily and Zoe landed a hit by slipping into my defenses and cracking my chin with the hilt of her dagger. As quick as she had been charging in, she leapt back and crouched-ready to poise, like a lioness waiting for her prey.

I groaned and shifted my jaw back into place, I could see my mistakes but my body just felt sluggish and wouldn't obey the commands I sent to it. Re-materialising Riptide, I put the blade in front of me and crouched slightly, mimicking Thalia's style as I waited for the Lieutenant to make her next move.

She breached past my pitiful defense easily, grabbed my collar and threw me onto the ground before landing a fist on my stomach. "Too much effort into dodging and clumsy swings" She remarked as I clutched my stomach in pain. "You have the ability to warp, use it to dodge instead of wasting energy" She prepared to strike again.

Warping as a dodge? I frowned, usually warping was only used when traversing, and I needed an anchor to keep my flight path straight, hence my blade-throwing. What did she mean by warping for a dodge?

"She means," Artemis had sat herself down with Demeter next to Phoebe, apparently their conversation had finished. "That you should instead of focusing on forcing your body forward, to dematerialise your body for a split second to let something pass through you instead of using your warp's speed to enhance the force your weapon makes when thrown" My concentration momentarily broken let Zoe knock me down onto the ground, I stared up at the two goddesses with questioning eyes. What did she mean by dematerialising? And how did she know my talents?

"Think! Perseus!" Demeter was currently embracing a smaller girl who had rushed towards her for an embrace. "Start to fall back, or dodge, and let the speed judge your direction!" She frowned and poked the small girl's stomach, "It's hard to explain, but think of it as teleporting without your anchor!"

Zoe rushed at me again; this time, I closed my eyes and fell backwards as she threw an uppercut with her left hand.

 _Use your power to dematerialise yourself, don't teleport, and just let your body become nothing, even if it's for a split-second._ The voice in my head was actually being helpful for once, obeying the commands it gave me, I opened my eyes to see Zoë's punch connect with my jaw...

... And my body seemed to react on its own and doge the fist nimbly with just a step to the side.

"Wow" Was all I could muster before collapsing onto the ground. "That was awesome, yet tiring" Demeter let out a small clap before continuing to talk to the girl in her arms, I breathed in several ragged breaths, "Warping and phasing in general is tiring. That sucked" I groaned and picked myself up. Looking at Zoe, I expected to see at least even a hint of pride in her eyes, and what I found was just what I had expected.

Her expression was deadpan, as if she hadn't believed that what I had done was even impressive-she scoffed and backed into another stance-this time more defensive than her previous one. "Stand, You may do all that may become a demigod, yet in thine eyes, thou arf nothing" She hissed, her eyes narrowing into slits.

I frowned as I stood up unsteadily, brushing dirt from my jeans, I pulled out Riptide yet again, this was honestly a stamina test. Warping, phasing and the materialisation of my weapons took concentration and even using a Heraldic Arm actually took a physical toll on my body-seeing as it couldn't handle destructive godly energy. I used my last bit of energy into throwing Riptide at the huntress and proceeding to warp. Even to this day, I could swear that her eyes widened in surprise before she nimbly dodged from the blade.

My vision's edges tinted with blue before I performed all the previous steps Chiron had taught me, materialise before the point of damage and use my speed to propel the blade and increase the chance of piercing armor and dealing a fatal blow.

The only thing I considered fatal was embedding the sword into the arena wall, materialising and breaking my nose by smashing my head into the hilt of Riptide and crumpling onto the ground.

Zoe cocked her head and blinked at me, as if she was questioning my stupidity for the action. And all I did was breathe, groan and proceed to vomit blood all over myself.

Did I say warping takes a mental toll on my body?

 _You're an idiot_

 **Chapter will be edited... Exams are starting but I will try to update... Still written at 11pm as usual... Forgive mistakes and skipping of details that I'll fix this morning.**

 **New poll is up questioning whether I do 5k chapters each week or 10k chapters sporadically.**

 **G'night.**

 **-Pohtato potato**


	4. I IIII

_5 days later_

"This cannot be happening." I stared at the goddess of the Hearth with the best deadpan expression I could muster. "So I still need to go to Westover even after all this tortu- training?" I quickly caught myself when Hestia raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. She sat her eight year old self down onto my tiny bed and laughed.

"Well, you were originally going to spend a week at Westover, however; some... Unforeseen circumstances occurred", her eyes twinkling good-naturedly as I sighed. "However, the camp and Westover have not been informed of what happened and you've been declared missing." Yep, that was definitely mischief in her eyes. I groaned, this would give Dionysus even more opportunity for me to do toilet cleaning for a year! "Your mother has been informed by me, do not fret." She quickly added at the sight of my horrified face.

"So we've reported that the Hunt found a boy in tattered clothing and that Demeter had rescued you and nurtured you back to health!" Her 8-year old form shone with happiness. "How's that for a story?" I replied with a simple face-palm, the goddess cocked her head at me in confusion and gestured for me to explain; flames danced around her chiton as if they-like her were confused. But I knew better.

"It's... Nothing, the story is fine." I resigned myself to the fate of mockery at the hands of Thalia, the entirety of the camp knew of her hatred for the Hunters although she never actually shared the reason, so being 'saved' by the Hunt and 'nurtured' back into health by them was probably going to give her more fuel to her hatred. I shivered, feeling a nonexistent draft blow on my bare arms . Hestia let out a small laugh and patted her dress, the smouldering edges danced in the evening air and embers flickered around us.

The small bubbly eight-year old smiled at me, was that pity or appreciation? "You have too many explanations to do when you arrive back in Camp next week." She was hiding something from me, I knew it. Would there be a monster attack while I was at Westover? Would there be an infestation of monsters wanting to feast on demigod flesh since godly blood had not resided at the school in decades? Was Artemis going to smite me for having a crush on her lieutenant?

I sighed and plopped onto my makeshift bed of faded silver blankets and pillows, murmuring a goodbye as the goddess disappeared in her usual flash of flames, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the peace and quiet-that is, if you block out the sounds of the Hunters training, several campfires, tents being packed and the smell of melted marshmallows.

My stomach grumbled in protest when the smell wafted into my small dilapidated tent. I watched silhouettes dart around the dull grey tent like flickering flames as I lay on the bed. The Hunters sure were busy, it seemed as though they were moving the next day and needed to be up and out as quick as possible. Almost as if they were waiting for the daylight to break out before they could leave. _Huh, weird._ I idly mused as I swung my legs over the bedside, _might as well go outside and check_. I slipped my newly replaced Hestia brand-was that even a thing?- boots and grabbed the slightly torn silver parka Lady Artemis had been kind enough to give to me. That is, if torn meant missing-the-entire-left-arm torn then yep; it was torn.

I slipped the coat on and stepped out from under the grey tent as I looked around for any signs of the goddess of the Hunt or Demeter, the only two in the camp apart from Hestia whom would actually talk to me. Hunters ranging from eighteen year olds to Hunters as young as five were each doing their own jobs-be it carrying stacks of firewood to their storage or feeding the wolf pups – I smiled slightly, it was like a big operation inside a close knit family before a big trip. I turned to my own tent when I gave up in looking for the goddesses in the busy crowd of Hunters,ther was just too much silveer and Demeter was nowhere to be seen, her peaceful Olympian presence that was rought to the camp whenever she visited was absent too. I frowned as my mind shifted towards other matters, was I allowed to keep the tent?

"If thou'st art questioning thine ownership of the tent-" I turned around slightly to see the lieutenant of the Hunt staring at me coldly, her silver tiara and eyes glittered in the light of the dancing flames and her silver parka was wrapped around her in response to the cold evening winds."-it belongs to thee." She herself carried several blankets on her arms as she glared at me over them. "Thy Hunt hath no place for male-tainted objects." With that, she was gone with the wind, back to the campfire where she handed out blankets to resting Hunters and giving out quiet orders to others still working. I sighed quietly; why did I always have a crush on those who hated me? I chuckled at my little quip before sighing slightly; of course nothing in the world was easy.

My thoughts were interrupted by a silver flash near the large group of neatly packed tents, food supplies and weapons. I looked at the ever-growing large pile as Hunters started to crowd around the twelve-year old goddess that had returned from... Whatever she had been doing for the past few hours, could Olympians procrastinate in their temples on Olympus? Or was she just in an important meeting? How did they manage to carry all of _that_ around with them whenever they were on their hunts? My mind was filled with useless questions as I gazed absently at the crowd. Artemis seemed to be conversing with the Hunters that had gathered around her because as soon as she stopped talking, they let out a collective groan.

"Milady! you're leaving for a solo hunt on the morrow?" A fourteen year-old cried from the crowd, the twelve-year old nodded grimly as she patted the cubs that had gathered at her feet. "How long?" She hesitated, her silver eyes boring down into the dirt as the pup gave her frozen hand a tentative lick.

"I... I'm not sure, my girls." She gave them a warm comforting smile, gathering the pups in her arms; she gently passed them to a nearby black haired Hunter who disappeared into the forest the moment they were given to her. "It will not be for long, though. Father would never send me to hunt something that was beyond our control, well; not on a solo Hunt" A couple of girls-whom had presumably been in the Hunt longer than the others-laughed at the dry tone Artemis used as the goddess inspected the neatly rowed packs, she nodded, satisfied as she examined the neatly packed containers before clapping her hands once; all of the packs disappeared in a coud of silve dust and she looked around for anything she had missed. That was when her eyes fell onto me, I had just finished throwing my tent into my clothing storage and had been absentmindedly patting the soil around a small patch of Moonlace as I eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Boy," My eyes snapped up from the ground to look at her hardened silver eyes as she approached me slowly and I kneeled in respect. "The Hunt will see you to Westover, no more. By then the terms of Hestia's agreement will be null and void. Should you enter the Hunt without permission you will be hunted without mercy; goddess to save you or not." Her lips curled into a sneer, as if she found the thought of hunting me fun. I opened my mouth to speak as I stared at the wilted flowers beneath me when another voice beat me to it.

"Now now, Artemis, Must you hate everyone whom you hold in an ever so slightly higher regard for?" Demeter had seemingly stepped out from the forest behind me-her arms were wrapped around the Hunter who had taken the wolf pups away. "Chloe here says that he wasn't that bad- for a male." Her... Daughter? They did have the same look, their eyes were identical too. Or it could be me hallucinating in the dark.

"Yes, young Perseus- tis thine daughter, Chloe." The goddess rolled her eyes at her own use of formal language. "I occasionally visit the Hunts on days like this, and bringing you here was a plus for me as I get to visit my daughter here without breaking any rules, no?" She ruffled the girl's hair; the ten year old girl huffed and swatted the divine being's hands away.

"Mom!" She huffed. "Phoebe just did my hair!" She pouted as Demeter let out a tinkling laugh. Artemis herself looked scandalous; and one look at her face was all I needed to stare back at the dirt.

"What do you mean, slightly more respect?" She didn't sound too offended, her cold voice sounded like grating steel as she stared down the goddess of Agriculture, as if she had known Demeter had been stealing the Hunt's cereal-which, in a way, was totally believable-. The goddess of Agriculture let out a small chuckle.

"Well, seeing as how you talk to him without adding one to the Jackelope population, I'd say that you have even the bare minimum of respect for this young demigod-unkindled one, as Hestia would put it." My inner mortal mind screamed in protest at the nickname; _What next, I become Hollow and I need to reunite the Lords of Cinder to link the flame?_ I snorted at my own thoughts as the two deities ignored me. " Demeter leaned in towards us and spoke in a hushed tone as if the very knowledge of the next few words could bring the world to its ruin. "I think we both know the truth here, Artemis." She chuckled as Artemis raised an eyebrow coolly.

"Perhaps so, he has not done anything questionable in the days he has spent here, not overstepped his bounds and has grown considerably compared the snivelling little coward we hunted him as." She finished her sentence with a tone of finality as both goddesses stared each other down.

I resisted the urge to face-palm, instead, I bit the inside of my cheek and stared at a small ant making its way along the dry dirt as Chloe giggled quietly. Demeter pulled away in mock hurt. "Chloe! Why must you ruin such an intense moment between two battling goddesses?"" She attempted to look offended yet couldn't keep the wide smile on her face as gently pulled the ear of the huntress. The little girl yelped and dissolved into laughter as the goddess tickled her.

"You don't look so angry-Ah!" The girl wriggled in the deity's arms, her mother smiled at her childs antics and set the girl down, who immediately dashed behind Artemis for safety, poking her head out and sticking her tongue out at Demeter. I resisted the urge to laugh, facepalm or do anything that would most likely get myself killed as both goddesses humoured the child.

And Artemis? Well, she looked resigned, as if she had just heard news that she didn't want to hear but she couldn't stop a small smile from breaking out as the mother and daughter interacted. HShe patted the young girl's head as shee gently pushed her back towards her mother and looked down upon me, her smile soon disappeared almost instantly and she muttered a quiet "We leave tomorrow morning." before gliding back to her Hunters.

"That's just her way of showing affection." Demeter's dry comment to her daughter made me look up as the goddess of the Hunt stalked away, helping Hunters move items and giving out orders. I turned to look at the Goddess and the child.

"But Auntie Artemis won't play with me!" She whined as she tugged the goddesses' dress, "And Phoebe is the only one who plays with me, the rest are too serious!" She made a face and pointed at the crowd surrounding the campfire. "See! They're always talking about Hunting and things like that, why can't we talk about fun things?" Demeter chuckled softly as she crouched down to face her daughter.

"What things?" She teased; the little girl folded her arms and huffed.

"I don't know! Anything not Hunt-ish!" The girl huffed and pouted when her mother ruffled her hair, "Mom!" She complained, I smiled at the humorous antics between the two as Demeter stood up to face me, her teasing smile never leaving her face. "And you, young Perseus, What did you do to make her suddenly respect you a tiny bit more than an average man?" She teased, I flushed in embarrassment; how would I know? Goddesses would be much better suited to answering my question because they could read my thoughts and feelings, right? A sparkle in Demeter's eyes told me did nothing but to enforce my theory.

"I... Don't know." I admitted as I turned to stare at the scene behind me, it would make an excellent picture to draw when I arrived at Westover or returned to Camp; the crescent moon hanging low over the sky, the sea in the distance which glittered like diamonds in the sunlight, the occasional stray pup running through small patches of Moonlace as Phoebe tried to catch it, Zoë handing out blankets and passing small mugs of hot cocoa between resting members and other Hunters going throughout their daily business as the flames of the campfire danced in the evening wind. "It's still rather hard to believe... Believing the situation I'm in." I continued at the Goddess' raised eyebrow. "Who would know that the Hunters of Artemis to train a male? One that was so undeserving of the power he was given to by three Olympian goddesses." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "I mean; I still have trouble believing it." I turned back from the picturesque scene to the goddess who had started laughing quietly behind her hand and Chloe staring at me with wide eyes, as if she was silently saying _That was really cheesy_.

"Dear child, if anything; you are the most deserving of such power. How humble, maybe that's why Artemis favors you a tiny bit more than other males." The goddess stopped laughing to give me a smile and squeezed her daughter's shoulder. "Look now, Chloe; this is a good male in front of you, probably the last you'll ever find of his kind." I blushed from embarrassment as the small girl wrestled against the clutches of her Olympian mother.

"But now, our time grows short, I'm afraid." Demeter seemed sad at the thought of leaving as she patted her daughter's head, but her glum dream-like features brightened up almost straight away. "I'll visit you tomorrow morning! I'll also be watching over you my dear baby child; and you too!" She smiled at me as she seemed to ignore the embarrassed "Mom!" from Chloe and leaned down to give the wriggling girl a small hug. "Stay safe, okay?" With that, she disappeared in a flash of corn and soon; all that was left of the goddess' visit was a wooden spoon and a small packet of cereal.

I looked at the young girl who was blushing furiously at the display her mother put on. I cleared my throat politely as she looked up from her hands, her long black hair buffeting in the wind. "Sorry, Chloe-" I tried to put on my 'apologetic' smile (Thalia had also incidentally called it a 'murderer's', don't ask; I don't know either) and picked up the spoon and bags of Cheerios. The young girl cocked her head at me and pushed the unruly locks away from her face as she looked at me strangely.

"-Do you have a paper and pencil?"

 _Is that the sun already...?_

I blinked drowsily as my numb fingers brushed the soft grass. _What time is it?_ I pulled myself from the hard ground and stretched; immediately feeling a sharp prick through my left neck. "Ouch..." I sleepily raised a hand to block the offensively bright morning sun as I stared at my supposed pillow; all that was there was a deformed rock. "Did I fall asleep here...?" I cracked my knuckles and winced when I straightened my posture, the hard bed had done wonders to my back, and by wonders I meant absolute torture.

I pulled myself to my feet as my blurred vision could make out a small person approaching me, "Good morning?" My voice sounded more of a whine than my actual voice. My vision slowly adjusted itself in the bright light as I focused on the small child in front of me. "... Chloe?" True enough, said small girl was currently offering me a large bowl of cereal, her long braided black hair glowing in the sunlight.

"Food!" She let out a happy laugh, too happy for any normal human being in the morning. I groaned slightly before accepting the bowl with a tired smile. "What did you draw?" She attempted to lean to the left of me to see the paper that had been left at the side when I had fallen asleep. I stepped to the side quickly to block her view.

"Not yet, wait till I'm done." I smiled at the girl's infectious happiness; she let out a small 'Aww' as I chuckled. "It's not that good; I was always a terrible artist." She giggled at my joke before plopping onto the ground beside me as I stored the papers in my compartment.

"So..." She began; I looked at the girl inquisitively, what questions would she have in the morning? "Can you be a girl?" I blinked at her hopefulness and sighed. Yep, way too happy for any human being in the morning. Way too happy. "Because Auntie Artemis said that only girls are allowed here, or are you secretly a girl?" I snorted and quickly masked the sound with a cough, the girl stared at me strangely.

"Chloe... It doesn't work like that-" I stopped when she let out a dejected sigh. _And technically, Artemis is Demeter's niece; so you'd be her cousin._

"But you'd be an awesome girl! Phoebe always says that you would be a better person if you were female! But... Zoë seems annoyed when I say that." Her happy tone seemed to become glum in an instant. "I don't think Zoë wants you to be a girl." Dear gods, this girl's attitude was like the wind. Going in one direction then changing the next. "I don't think Zoë likes you in general." Well, there went my hope, crushed by a bright-green eyed ten year old. "In fact, when I brought up your name yesterday, she frowned and told me to sleep when Phoebe started talking about how bad at fighting you are."

 _Double ouch_

"Well... Uh," I racked my brain to try to search for a better conversation to make the girl happier and prevent my confidence from being crushed. "Why do you talk to me?" Her glum face didn't change; she stared at the wilting Moonlace next to me and huffed. "Because you're nice to me and mom, I don't get it when Phoebe talks of how bad men are! They say it's from bad experiences but I've never had them..." She looked considerably less unhappy now, she seemed angrier, if anything. I sighed; how could I make this girl happy? "Have you had those experiences?"She looked up to me, her green eyes flashing in curiosity. There was an image, the stepfather that I had lived with before Theo came and dealt with him: Gabe, I shook my head and put on a kind smile.

"Nope." She frowned and nodded, silently watching my bowl as I quietly ate my Cheerios.

"Is... Is that why no-one talks to you in the Hunt? Because everyone hates you?" Her question made me pause; I stared at the spoon in my hands before setting it down onto the bowl, voices and small images came to mind as I pondered on her last question. "No, I don't think that's it" The child was too busy in her own world of questioning to even hear me; I chuckled slightly at her attitude before picking up my bowl to continue my breakfast, no point mulling over past memories, Hestia had spent the last 5 days on helping me be less bitter. I tried to push those thoughs away as I started to clean the now-empty bowl in the stream behind me. I softly smiled at the kindness of the Goddess and her attempts, of course the bad memories weren't going to leave me in a couple of days, but it was benevolent of her to try, the strange voice in my head had also gone oddly quiet as I spent the couple of days training.

"Chloe! Where arf thou?!" A voice came from one of the few remaining tents as I finished the bowl of cereal and stretched. Great, everyone's favourite lieutenant had arrived to see me washing a bowl in a stream with a small girl talking to herself, her skin seemed to glow radiantly in the morning sun and her parka had been traded for a much simpler silver morning dress, her tiara was nowhere to be seen and her face looked like she had just woken up. "Chloe?" The daughter of Demeter was snapped out of her thoughts when the copper-skinned beauty turned towards her. "What arf thou doing in such a place?" The little girl frowned at the older girl's language and shrugged, evidently confused.

"She meant, 'what are you doing here'." I quickly translated before turning back to the stream, there was no way in hell I was going to let Zoë see me laughing unless I'd wanted to remove my testicles.

"Oh... Oh! Sorry Zozo,-"I let out a small snort and quickly masked it with a fake sneeze when Zoë's nickname was mentioned, both girls turned to stare at me strangely before returning to their previous conversation. "I wanted to talk to Percy here and get him to show me his drawing but he wouldn't let me!" I could hear the child's pout as she stood up and skipped towards the lieutenant. "When's breakfast?" Zoë sighed as the little girl danced around the lieutenant.

"Why would thee- What hath he- Ugh, Breakfast shalt be ready soon, let us go." Dear gods, she sounded overwhelmed by the hyperactivity of this child. I could hear her sigh and speak of 'Male influence' before stalking off, the happy girl in tow, I set the now clean bowl down onto the deformed rock next to me and turned to give a small wave to the little girl who was now being dragged by the collar, her face brightened up considerately as she waved back energetically.

"Bye Percy!" The little girl hollered as she was quite literally dragged back into the tents, her heels created marks in the dirt as they walked/dragged/squirmed their way into the tent. I chuckled before sitting myself down and pulling out the drawing I hadn't finished the night before, I could still get it done. I had my notes describing the scene and the image was still fresh, this would be done before the Hunters even finished their food. Yet, my mind was distracted when I pulled out the pencil and paper from my storage, waving away the floating crystal shards and staring down onto the piece of paper; past thoughts that I had not even thought about rose to plague my mind, a single sentence ringing through my head.

 _Because everyone hates you?_

I let out a choked laugh as I pulled out my previous notes describing the beautiful scene from the night before, the ambience and the quiet family life the Hunters depicted in the drawing. I tried to ignore the thoughts and stared down sourly at the notes as I attempted focused on my drawing.

 _Of course they do._

 _Westover is a rehab of sorts for demigods... Right?_ I looked at the crowd of dancing children tiredly in confusion, _So... why are there mortals?_ Hundreds of kids packed in one large hall; a large disco ball turned slowly in the center as the room lit up in several different colors. Awful music seemed to be blasting through speakers of terrible quality, I winced when the speakers crackled, played three times as louder than previously and watched several teachers make a dash towards the music controls to tone the volume down, the kids didn't seem fazed at all by the change.

"Hey! Kiddo! Come get some punch!" A guy who looked about sixteen waved over a small pale-faced twelve year old boy as he held his head in his arms, poor guy's ears probably were bleeding from the noise, the boy shook his head adamantly as he stumbled back, his dark locks flying around his face as his sister-they did look the same, after all- dragged him away. It was hard to see the sister's pale face in the multi-colored lights as kids laughed and danced in the massive main hall, I turned my focus back onto the crowd when they disappeared around the corner, obviously not interested in the dance. I yawned quietly into the back of my hand; of course I understood the feeling of not wanting to be noticed.

It hadn't been exactly all fun and games being admitted here; Chloe had spent the trip telling me some really quite terrible cereal jokes and I had been kind enough to not spoil her fun-What do you call someone who eats Froot Loops? A _cereal_ killer! (I cried inwardly at that one.). The Hunt had treated me as they had before and Artemis seemed more annoyed at me than usual, the walk was beyond taxing on my limbs and the Hunt hadn't stopped for a break at all ("This distance is nothing!" Chloe had cried out when I spoke to her about it, jumping up and down as the silent Zoë next to us sighed). The teachers were dull and boring and I immediately knew there was a problem with this school when I heard a teacher was called _Gottschalk_ , the man who had let me in looked at me as if I was his next meal and shooed me away into this massive hall, not even asking why I was dressed in dirt-covered jeans, a silver parka missing the entire left sleeve and a black T-shirt that was obviously several sizes larger than my tiny frame. And the fact that Mrs _Gottschalk_ was there to scold me n my dishevelled appearance didn't exactly help with the self-confidence.

Oh, I would pay to hear Theo try to spell that name. I chuckled quietly at my own joke and plopped down onto the nearest chair that had been kindly put out by other students whom either were too lonely or were tired from the dance, my legs were burning from fatigue from the long walk, and staying up late the night before had done nothing to help the bags under my eyes. I gazed drowsily at the crowd in silence, was I really going to spend my entire week in this place?

Well, might as well find a quiet place to rest before any next plans.

The dance had practically ended when I woke up to a scene from the Lion King.

I had gone for a long awaited rest as tiredness and fatigue overwhelmed my body and had found a nice quiet spot in the school grounds just by a cliff next to the ocean and a small forest that was accompanied with a cool ocean breeze. I leaned against one of the many trees that stood proudly next to the cliff and slid down, enjoying the feeling of cool hard wood scraping against my overheated body and sighed. The night was almost over and I hadn't even learnt where I was to sleep, wash or change my clothes. I closed my eyes and breathed gently, the cooling evening breeze tousling my already unruly hair, quietly marvelling the peace and quiet that was granted to me by this soothing hidden place.

It was a peaceful few hours of sleep, several quiet hours of reflection and pondering, and a quiet moment that was ruined by a large lion/scorpion monster screaming strange obscenities and holding two children over the cliff as if it was christening them.

I stared, slightly miffed from being woken up much earlier than my liking, at the two children-the siblings I had seen earlier running from the party- who were squirming in the monster's grip, frowning as my body refused to move from the exhaustion and heat; I continued to lie in my semi-concealed spot as the older sibling made eye contact with me, a cry for help strangled from her voice; I attempted to convey a message in my eyes; looking at my own feet and shaking my head. The girl's eyes seemed to flash in anger and annoyance as she continued to struggle in the monster's grasp, if it wasn't such a life-threatening situation; I would have laughed at my pitiful stamina and they way she held her nose high as she stared at me, even as she was slowly being choked by a monster... Strange, that monsters attire did look similar. Maybe it was from an advert on television, I assured myself as I gazed at the scene; semi-hidden by the leafy undergrowth.

 _Percy, move your body. NOW._ My body and mind did not agree, instead; my limp legs screamed in protest as I attempted to lift myself up from the ground, purposely ignoring the pointed glares the girl shot towards me as I stumbled onto my feet, summoning the Trident of the Sea to steady myself.

I would've moved faster to save them if I had enough time, but imagine my own surprise when Theo, Thalia, Grover and Annabeth burst from the trees in front of me, their weapons brandished as they cornered the Lion King actor. I blinked in surprise, my own fatigue preventing me from doing anything but indulge in a staring contest with the strangled girl as my four friends hacked and slashed through the small army I hadn't even noticed was there before I stood up. When had they appeared? Why were they here? Wee they on a quest?

"Put them down, Manticore!" Theo was breathing heavily as he embedded his Trident, 'Splashy' he had named it, into a _dracanae_ neck; I chuckled inwardly, he looked like a knight in shining armor with his celestial bronze shield and Trident. The Manticore did nothing to show he had heard the son of Poseidon; instead, his several beady eyes remained fixated on the children in his grasp as if he was eyeing a prize he never expected he'd win. His tail whipped ferociously as several spikes shot out to kill the demigods, but each one was successfully blocked and dodged.

"Did you hear him, Mufasa?! Put em down!" Thalia yelled at the unmoving being, her Aegis glowing in the bright moonlight as beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She tore her can of mace out of a fallen body that promptly exploded in golden dust and hoisted her shield up to guard for any more tail spikes. The Manticore hesitated as he looked at the remains of his fallen soldier before dropping the children onto the ground, way too close to the edge for my liking and turned slowly towards the demigod group.

 _Just for the history books, it wasn't Mufasa doing the holding, Thalia._

"Do you realize whom you are talking to?" I recognized his voice straight away; he was the person who had introduced me to the academy when I had arrived, Doctor Thorn. I gaped at the monster in shock, how didn't I notice the tail? Or the several eyes? Or the claws? Although, it did explain why he had been staring at me throughout my entire introduction when I had arrived a few hours ago, of course a monster wanted an easy meal of weakened demigod on a Saturday evening.

I slowly hobbled towards the group, the Trident I held in my hands and the bright flash of light emitted from it went unnoticed by all except for the younger kid at the cliff who pointed at it and whispered something excitedly to his sister. I chuckled at his antics an dematerialized it, the shards forming something else, a larger and much heavier blade. Preparing the strength to throw the Blade of Hestia that was slowly forming as my mental strength slowly crumbled, I hesitated when a familiar presence made itself known to the group in front of me.

It would be rather hard to not notice the several silver-clad girls whom had surrounded the Manticore from behind the demigods and above the trees, silver bows notched and prepared for firing. Theo looked around him in surprise, his guard lowering as he stared, dumbstruck at the perfect formation the girls had made. Thalia looked even more pissed at the sight of the Hunters, she growled as electricity danced through her jet-black hair. Grover looked torn between screaming in fear and collapsing in awe as the familiar twelve-year old goddess stepped out from the forest in front of me.

"Goddess! You are breaking the laws by approaching me with arms raised!" Dr Thorn's raspy voice was accompanied with a roar as his spiked whip stiffened, ready to strike. He crouched, preparing to fight as the goddess walked slowly closer to him.

The goddess looked unimpressed. "You are a monster, I lead the Hunt, what good would it be if we did not hunt monsters?" she drawled as her lieutenant, Zoë, dropped down from a tree next to her with her bow raised. She looked exactly the same as she did on the first night I had met her. Her tiara positioned above her perfect ponytail as her lack eyes glinted dangerously as she stared down the monster. "Permission to kill, milady?" Artemis nodded before turning her back to the monster.

"Try to make it quick, we've to rest for tomorrows journey-" She was cut off when the deafening sound of a helicopter's motor, a sleek black armoured helicopter floated from beneath the cliff; inside were several mortal men armed to the teeth with mortal ammunition and weapons. Artemis however, was still not impressed. I could only watch in awe as she turned back round, clapped her hands once and the entire helicopter-mortals and all- disappeared in a cloud of silver dust until all that remained was a small pack of ravens, they squawked indignantly before each one was shot down by the manticore's spikes, he hadn't even looked back to check if he had missed as dead ravens dropped b the huddled children by the cliff. The younger sibling; obviously the curious one, reached over and poked the carcass of a raven before recoiling into the arms of his sister when the bird exploded in golden dust.

"Mortals are not allowed to witness the Hunt." Artemis rolled her eyes slightly as if she mocked the attempt and turned back again as she walked back into the forest, her work practically done. "Zoë, when we are done, please set up camp. Olympus calls for me and I require more information on my Hunt" The lieutenant nodded slightly, her eyes never leaving the seemingly shell-shocked Manticore before her. The two siblings had huddled closely to the edge as they stared at the situation they were in silently, the younger sibling didn't seem to register that he was in a life and death situation as he pointed at the girls and whispered excitedly to his sister who placed a finger to his lips and wrapped her arms around him protectively, at least one of them knew the gravity of the situation.

That was when the Manticore leapt; he seemed to weave through several arrows as his tail sliced through more when he collided with Thalia's shield, his claws raking against the metal. The daughter of Zeus backed away, her strength failing her as her shield arm dropped from the monster's weight, but Theo stepped in with his shield as he cautiously stabbed at the monster, never dropping his defense as Thalia regained her stamina, he seemed to be waiting for a moment as he guarded Thalia who gave him a small thanks before raising her shield up at the monster once more.

The Manticore let out a roar and leapt into the air, performing a perfect backflip - I couldn't help but admire the form- He landed on the dry ground in front of the siblings and his tail swept in a deadly arc, both Hunters and demigods prepared for the oncoming onslaught of spikes, but it nver came. Instead, the black tail wrapped itself around seemingly thin air as the Manticore cried "Got you!" before slamming his tail into the ground. A muffled cry of pain came from the invisible air as I blinked in confusion before realization dawned on me.

 _Annabeth!_

Sure enough, the Yankee cap of the child of Athena slid off her head as she reappeared in sight. So that's where she had been! Her face was bruised and didn't seem to hear the cries from Thalia and Theo as they backed away when Dr. Thorn literally breathed fire to keep them at bay. He lifted the limp body with his tail and smirked triumphantly, his several eyes flashing in demented happiness as he slammed the girl into the ground again. Thalia let out a strangled cry and attempted to rush at the monster, Theo managed to stop her just in time when the monster placed a bladed barb right next to Annabeth's throat.

"One more step and she dies." He hissed, his claws tearing through Zoë's arrow and he held up Annabeth's limp form as a shield. "Don't want to fire, do we, Hunters? Not with another beloved maiden in harm's way." He chuckled darkly as he backed away towards the edge of the cliff, towards the two siblings.

He picked both of the struggling children with one clawed arm easily, hoisting them as a human shield; he was one step away from jumping off the cliff. "The General will kill you soon enough, Hunter." He snarled at Zoë, whom had frozen at the mention of the name momentarily, her grip on her bow tightened, knuckles turning white as she notched two arrows onto her bow, anger could be visibly seen n her face as her lips contorted into that of a snarl.

"He shalt not harm thy body." She spat, letting the arrows loose, both arrows seemed to slip through the manticore's defenses easily, as if she was shooting an unmoving target and embedded themselves in the arm of the Manticore, causing him to drop the younger sibling who scrambled away at the first chance, his gaze fearful as he watched the many eyes glare at him furiously. Zoë grabbed tehe boy and backed up dragging him to the safety of the trees and Hunters as her bow morphed into two identical silver hunting daggers.

"Why... You!" The Manticore barely concealed his rage as he attempted to reach for the scrambling child. "Get back here!" His advances were stopped by Phoebe's sword embedding itself next to his arms, his gaze snapped up to said hunter in the trees, she flexed her arms and unsheathed another sword from her scabbard at her waist from her position atop a branch.

"One more step" She taunted him with the manticore's own words, twirling the sword in her palm, he let out a frustrated growl before backing away slowly, his claws digging deeply into the dirt as his tail wrapped even tighter around Annabeth. Theo and Grover were both holding Thalia at bay as she fought against their clutches now, sparks flying off her as her anger seemed to permeate the air; she screamed at the monster who laughed darkly at her attempts to break free and kill him, the sharpened tip of his tail dancing around Annabeth's neck teasingly. I watched the two as they winced when the electricity radiating off the daughter of Zeus struck them but they still held on, determined to not lose another friend, I wished I could help, but I had to focus on my own task before helping others. I snarled quietly from where I was standing, now easily visible as shards of lights danced around the palm of my hand, the Trident of te Sea shattered into crystals as a different weapon formed in my right hand, a larger, heavier bade. I focused all my strength; physical and mental, into the materialization of a single blade, my own strength fuelled by my anger at my own weakness and powerlessness as I channelled every single bit into the one blade, into the movement of the blade, into the sharpness of the blade.

"This will do," The Manticore looked livid with anger. "My master only requires the oldest one, Luke also wants this on-"He was cut off when the massive ethereal two-metre long blade of Hestia flew at him and severed his arm completely from his body. He fell back, screaming in pain. Zoë pounced forward, slashing at his other arm and grabbed the falling older sibling by the arm, hoisting her over the edge to safety where she joined her younger brother, both now completely silent as they watched the Manticore slowly fall off the cliff, Annabeth in his clutches.

I managed to hear Thalia's scream, see a massive thunderbolt strike the ground and see Theo rushing over to my side, discarding his shield and trident, repeatedly chanting my name like a mantra as he rolled my fallen body onto my back to check for visible wounds before I blacked out.

 _Just how many times have I collapsed this week?_

 **Haven't updated in two weeks, exams had started and I thought I'd do better and add some extra, sorry for the wait.**

 **On the bright hand side, I've finished most of my exams and will have more time dedicated to this story. Played more FF15, Bloodborne and Dark Souls to give me more ideas and I'm ready to write this new chapter. Also, chapters may seem sporadic due to the lack of internet connection I now have but I will try my very best to update regularly if not weekly.**

 **Now, for some review answering, oldest first:**

 **Deadshow: awesome I already love it. FOR Chapter 1**

 **A: Thanks! It was real swell to heaer someone give such a good opinion of an idea that I had come up on because I was bored of all the 'OP Percy' fics on this site! I hope to meet your FF standards with the rest of this book!**

 **Also from Deadshow: Please continue I love this already FOR Chapter 1**

 **A: Your wish is my command.**

 **Guest (Agent of the Balance): So... Favorite ac/dc album? Agent of the Balance, too lazy to sign in!XD FOR Chapter 1**

 **A: Sorry to burst ya bubble, but I don't really listen to rock nowadays, used to love me some good Starset and Green Day but i'm more of an acid jazz kind of guy nowadays. Got a favourite song? I could listen to it, always heard AC/DC were a great band. (I may have heard 'Highway to Hell' in The Lightning Thief movie)**

 **OverLordRaven: This is a great new idea FOR Chapter 1**

 **A: I KNOW RIGHT! I SPENT AN HOUR GGETTING ALL HYPED UP CAUSE IT SPRUNG IN MY HEAD WHILE I WAS SEARCHING FOR A DECENT PERZOË FIC**

 **Guest: :Dude... Its awesome, keep it up! FOR Chapter 1**

 **A: PLEASE SIGN IN BECAUSE I CAN'T RECOGNISE YOU AS GUEST! Also, thanks! It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside when someone like you pops up to give such positive feedback... But ggin makes me feel warm and fuzzy too... Huh... Wait... ARE YOU GIN?!**

 **Death Fury: I like the idea FOR Chapter 1**

 **A: I like it too (Insert )**

 **: Magnificent chapter can't wait for more please update soon FOR Chapter 2**

 **A: YOOOO FAM, You're still with me even after a 2 year hiatus? Kudos, dude/dudette. And cookies. And gin, but not the Guest Gin, Gin Gin. Make sense? Right? Yeah, thought so.**

 **Gilgameshexcalipoor2000: Interesting FOR Chapter 1**

 **A: Blimey, that name is hard to spell out! I don't think a Scottish dude like me can pronounciate it without butchering the name! It's good that it's interesting, overused plotlines end up being cliché, as they say. Right?**

 **Bismarck38: Can't wait to see how Zoë changes her perception FOR Chapter 2**

 **A: Sorry not sorry, but you'll have to wait quite a few chapters, maybe even a book because I sure as hell aint rushing this book, nor am I going to change one's behaviour in the space of one scene. BUT I HOPE YOU WILL BE PLEASED.**

 **OverLordRevan: great chapter, I hate the pairing though. FOR Chapter 2**

 **A:WHAAAAAAAT?! Just kidding, everyone has their OTP; If ya want, I can write a oneshot of your favourite pairing to keep ya happy if you tell me what is it. I MUST keep all viewers content and happy with my works else I fail as an author!**

 **Mr confused(Guest): Awesome! But the mental dialogue should be '' I think? That's just a suggestion tho. FOR Chapter 2**

 **A: I'll try, but I'm more of an italics kind of guy, so I'm sure you'll see more** _ **thinking**_ **instead of 'thinking' throughout my books to prevent inconsistencies. But wait, doesn't that contradict my first statement? WHAT DO I DO.**

 **budhayes:I am not quite sure what yes and no mean in your poll... FOR Chapter 3**

 **A:I'm such an idiot, thank you for bringing this up else I wouldn't have ever noticed it. Thank you. Also, poll is gonna be up until Chapter 5, so if ya haven't voted, then by all means go ahead and vote!**

 **Death Fury: great job FOR Chapter 3**

 **A: Thanks! I'm running out of things to say and Thanks doesn't seem to convey how grateful I am for positive feedback from my viewers, just warms my heart.**

 **: Magnificent chapter can't wait for more please update soon FOR Chapter 3**

 **A: Dude, is this your usual response to all my stories? Every single one has you saying the same thing, what If I do badly? Do I get a 'Terrible chapter never update again'? But seriously, thanks for taking the time to read this chapter fam.**

 **Guest: I would much rather consistency over quantity but whatever works for you. Great job byw FOR Chapter 3**

 **A: Imma assume that byw means btw, and thanks! I've been lately wondering if my writing consistency and quality has dropped because I write this at 3 in the morning. Leave a comment! ALSO GET A NAME PLEZ, I CAN'T THANK YOU IF YOU'RE GUEST**

 **SpartanBoy: Interesting chapter, I know he's like a 14 yyear old boy, ut eventually can he stop being an idiot around Zoë, not immediately but eventually. Also can Artemis read his mind about Zoë FOR Chapter 3**

 **A: Of course he will stop being an idiot, he just has low self-esteem that should somewhat be reduced with a quest (Wink wink) and Lady Artemis most certainly can read his mind, but we haven't encountered a scene where she does catch him and Zoë at the same place.**

 **Guest: Is there any way u can make percy less pathetic? Love your story by the way, first time iv seen this plot before to. FOR Chapter 3**

 **A: Of course I can make our favourite son of ? less pathetic, it's just that I choose to make a story where Percy isn't the almighty harbinger of justice but instead is much more like a teenager undergoing self-identity problems and anxiety in our age. However, should you ever get nametag, PM me with a story idea and I'll make a one/twoshot of your idea, keeping viewers happy is one of my codes for being an author.**

 **HeroBladeRiyet: Niceu niceu. That's an interesting choice of power. If you want more ideas on his aility you should check out Fate's Shiro Emiya/EMIYA. The ability you came up with and Emiya's ability are somewhat similar. FOR Chapter 3**

 **A: I guess my version of the power isn't creating/enforcing weapons, rather just storing weapons that have already been made in a limited amount of slots with an armory dedicated to armaments given from gods (cough cough Armiger for FF15 players) but I'll check it out.**

 **Guest (NAAAAAAAAAME):which royal arm is Hestia's sword? Anyway, Percy with Noctis' power, noice. Is he getting the car as well?**

 **A:THERE IS SO MUCH I WANT TO SAY BUT THEY'D BE SPOILERS SORRY! Now where was my story folder...Ah! Dropped it!**

"Lower! Lower!" Theo yelped. "We're gonna get zapped out the sky at this rate!"

I grinned at him seated next to me, his can of Pepsi rolled in the compartment as he hugged his legs, I tried to not look back to not suffer the guilt trip from Thalia's pale face or listen to Annabeth's wonder as she stared at the engine behind. "Its fine, he won't kill the-

 **Found it, did you see anything? No? Good.**

 **willcraftNEX: this was... unexpected... still good! But unexpected... FOR Chapter 3**

 **A: Expect the unexpected, my friend.**

 **Sorry if the reviews seemed to drag, I usually try to speak through PMs but lately it's been impossible due to internet being unavailable. Hope you don't mind, I'll try to return to the uual pm responses ASAP.**

 **Special thanks to LucianNaruto for his extensive knowledge of Artemis and the Hunt which has been used to broaden my knowledge of them-seriously, all you aspiring writers hit him up, he'd be an excellent beta.**

 **Special thanks also to SpartanBoy by heaving a nice conversation about our frankly ridiculous theories that somehow make sense, it may not seem like much but you were helping me alleviate stress from exams. So thanks.**

 **Super duper quadtruper special thanks to IzzyBella12 for getting me back into the grove for writing again after 2 long years, this thanks is long overdue and I definitely recommend you guys checking out her stories, they're real good. Way better than what I write.**

 **With that said, it is 3 in the morning. So imam take a big nap for 12 hours before back to studying. Then maybe more FF typing. I feel like this chapter was rushed and is terrible due to my lack of sleep so I'll edit it tomorrow afternoon**

 **BAI!**


	5. I IV

"What's this? Has collapsing become a new trend?" A gruff voice spoke out from the darkness. "He's collapsed, what; five times? That's kinda sad." I opened my eyes to look at the source of noise. "Oi, male, wake up." I groaned slightly at Phoebe's voice "Milady finished speaking to the older di Angelo sibling, we're leaving." Great, here I was again; lying in the exact same bed as I had been in _four_ times previously.

"It's not his fault; you did walk him half to death!" Thalia's voice rose up from just outside the tent, Phoebe's eye twitched as she glared at the daughter of Zeus' shadow.

"That distance was nothing, even Chloe wasn't tired" I winced at the tone of superiority she used.

"Yeah, but she has been in the Hunt for, what; two years?" The daughter of Zeus' shadow could be seen as she moodily transformed her Aegis from shield to bracelet repeatedly. "Just stop it, Phoebe. He hasn't done anything bad and here you are; attacking him just because he's a male." She spat, I pulled myself up and stared at the two, the only thing preventing them from blowing up into a fight was the thin walls of the tent.

Swinging my legs over the bedside, I slipped past Phoebe quietly as she continued to glare at Thalia's shadow (Thalia was probably doing the same), grabbed my parka and slid under the tent flap. It was still evening, camp had been set up and according to Phoebe, Artemis had returned. So I estimated that I had been asleep for a couple of hours at most.

"We do need to toughen you up." Hestia had gracefully stepped out a pillar of fire that rose from the ground behind me, I jumped back and let out a small yelp at the sudden entrance. "Otherwise how would one woo the lieutenant when they spend half their time bedridden?" She smiled kindly at me; I resisted the urge to snap back at the goddess and bowed slightly.

"Lady Hestia-"She cut me off with a laugh and beckoned for me to follow her, the embers on her dress glittered on the uneven grass. I followed her hesitantly, looking around, I could only see a handful of Hunters and Grover and the younger sibling playing... Was that a card game?

"We really need you to do more stamina training." Hestia lectured; I rolled my eyes at the back of her head as she continued walking. "So a daily jog around camp would do you good each day- but what about your upper body strength?" She mused, as if she had forgotten I was even here in the first place. "Hmm, the lava wall might suffice, or we could borrow some of the Ares cabin's weights." A small flame danced in her open palm as she stared at it, deep in thought."Yes... Yes, that would do-"I cleared my throat politely as she seemed to scribble notes in the air with fire.

"Lady Hestia? What was your purpose in dragging me out here?" I frowned at the goddess as she continued to scribble notes with a small dancing flame.

"Two things, really; I came here to warn you of the comin- No, that simply will not do!" She scribbled out a note with smoke and continued writing, her fingers lit up with a small flame as she traced words of Greek in a bright fire. "Yes, that'd give you enough time to rest-"I sighed, I couldn't even read the Ancient Greek she was writing in!

"The coming...?" I looked at the goddess, her hair seemingly catching fire at the tips as she stared anxiously at the list. "Yes, Yes... The coming war that my brother refuses to acknowledge will soon be upon us. I came here to warn you and the other demigods from Camp here about Camp's defenses, Chiron has already been informed and they are currently preparing defenses as we speak. The threat of a monster invasion is too high right no- Done!" She finished writing and blew out the small flame at her forefinger, the flames in the air disappeared with a small poof and a small bundle of paper dropped out of the cloud of fire. Hestia caught it with ease and shoved it towards me. "Read it!"

I had no choice but to oblige as I opened the page and to my chagrin, the very first bright blue words that stood out on the small book was 'HESTIA'S GUIDE TO GAINING MUSCLE' I bit my lip to quench the feeling of impending doom that was bubbling in my stomach as I stared at the 'plan' the goddess of the Hearth had put down (Fine print at the bottom said that there were no steroids and/or proteins needed).

"Do this for a couple of weeks and you'll be a strong boy in no time!" Her face glowed with pride. "I may not look like it, but I've managed to train several heroes in the past with such a plan!" She acted as if she hadn't literally just created it while we were talking about matters that could potentially be life-threatening. I sighed.

"What heroes?"

"Good ones" Her reply was ambiguous as her eyes shone with humor. I snapped the book closed and dropped it into my clothing storage (that was now rather full with dirty clothes, a book about working out and an entire tent) and rolled my eyes

"Any names?"

"I cannot due to-".

"Figures." I sighed as she straightened her dress. "And what was this second matter for you dragging me out?" She arched her eyebrow.

"Do you mean, _who_ is his second matter?" I looked at her strangely; she frowned as she looked to the sky. "Any minute now..." I frowned, what was she going to do? She clapped her hands once, as if she was performing some kind of magic, yet nothing happened. She blinked and clapped again, still nothing.

A minute of silence passed between us, she tapped her foot impatiently, did gods and goddesses' attitudes change when they shifted forms? Because Hestia seemed to be acting a lot like an eight-year old right now-not that I told her, of course.

"Lady Hestia, I don't think-"I stopped when one of the brightest lights flashed out from above the trees and all I could hear as I blinked rapidly to clear the spots in my vision was the loud roar of a sports car engine "What th-".

"Auntie Hestia! To what do I owe the pleasure?" A new voice rang out as the motor stopped rumbling, the forest returning to its tranquil state after the owls had stopped screeching. I rubbed my eyes frantically. I hadn't lost my vision, had I? I could hear the sound of a door opening and closing and somebody stepping out, but my vision was still black.

"Such a charmer, Apollo." Hestia's voice sounded much older; maybe she had changed into an older form to greet the man.

"So why am I her- Oh! Sorry, let me get that for you." The man jogged over and placed a hand on my forehead. Immediately, that region started to grow warm as my vision slowly started making out colors again. "Always happens when mortals stare at my sun chariot in close proximities, you'd think that it's the brightest thing that anyone has seen! Oh... Wait... it probably is..." He trailed off as I could make out different features of his face. The man looked modern enough; he was dressed in casual mortal clothes with black sunglasses perched on his golden-haired head. His blue eyes glinted mischievously down at me as his smile seemed to make him glow. "I'm Apollo, kiddo. What's your name?" I froze, unable to talk because of the sheer amount of _normal_ he was radiating for a god.

"His name is Perseus." Hestia spoke up, indeed; she had turned into her thirty-something form as she looked down at the young adult god. They both shared a look before Apollo turned to look at me, his eyes going up and down. As if he was analysing my very essence. "This is the one, huh..." He frowned as he stared me down quietly. My frozen legs seemed to thaw and I immediately went into a kneeling position. "Don't kneel." His voice seemed much kinder and friendly. "I don't do that kinda stuff." He shared meaningful look with Hestia, words seemed to pass between them and Hestia's face darkened considerably, the embers flickering off her turned to ash that spiralled down to the ground.

"Oh... Ok" My voice seemed so quiet, like it was miles away as I stood up, still staring at my feet. I had started to open my mouth to speak when the sound of something leaping off a tree stopped me.

"Apollo! You're twenty minutes late!" Artemis had appeared, her auburn hair dancing in the wind as she stared down the god. "Where have you been?" It was rather comical, seeing a twelve year old bossing about an adult. Apollo shrugged easily and tried to hug his sister. "I got sidetracked, just met the darndest mortal woman." He didn't seem fazed when she dodged underneath his outstretched arms. "So my baby sis needs me to take her Hunter somewhere?" He grunted when his sister immediately punished him with a punch to the stomach at his slight innuendo,

"I am the older one. And I require you to take my Hunters to Camp Half-Blood. I must leave on my solo Hunt." Was it me? Or did I just see a flash of worry crease the smiling god's features? It was gone in a split second, and the man was smiling again.

"Of course! Anything for my dear little sis" He tried to pat her on her head, she swatted the arm away. "Stay safe on your Hunt." His voice held some kind of melancholy to it, as if he knew what was going to happen to her. I inwardly slapped myself, of course he would know. He was the god of prophecies, after all.

But wouldn't he stop her, if she was doing something dangerous? Could gods do that? Or would they have laws to prevent them to do such things?

"Who do you think I am? Of course I'm going to be safe." She snapped back before storming off, Apollo let out a quiet whistle and stared at her retreating back.

"Sis still hates me from the Orion incident..." He frowned as he looked at me, leaning against his car door. "You one of Poseidon's? You got his hair and have similar face structures... Nah, the nose on Poseidon is a lot more... sharp and your eyes are way too dark." He patted my head. "At least you aren't an Orion"I blinked and stared at the man, his gaze seemed absent as he stared at the Hunter camp. "Who's your parent?" I froze slightly before answering. "Sally Jackson, but I... Don't know my Dad." He frowned before turning to the silent Hestia and sharing another secretive look.

"No worries, kiddo. Sorry I asked such a personal question." He smiled warmly and ruffled my head."You'll find him someday..." His voice trailed off; as if he had said something he hadn't meant to say. But before I could question him, he leaped over the car bonnet and slid into the driver's seat. Revving the engine; he grinned at me and the unnervingly silent Hestia.

"Let's go to Camp!" He gestured for me to get in as he switched on the lights; the dark evening sky was momentarily turned to day as he flicked the lights on and adjusted their brightness.

"... Go, unkindled one." Hestia used her nickname for me as she smiled faintly, her hair no longer alight but smouldering. "I will be at camp..." With that; she disappeared in a flash of flames. I frowned at the spiralling embers and ash. What had happened to make Hestia so... sad and melancholic?

"Don't mind her." Apollo assured me as I clambered into the front passenger seat, "She probably forgot something and went back to get it." I pretended to believe the lie as he smiled.

"Shall we go?" Without even waiting for an answer, he kick-started the engine and enveloped the clearing in a bright light.

The first thing I registered was the feeling of wanting to puke, like the mental sickness I gave myself whenever I warped too much, the next thing was that I had fallen out of the car and onto the sandy beach floor that had definitely been a forest floor a second ago.

"Ugh..." I pulled myself up, fists digging into the sand as I half stood/leaned against the sports vehicle. "That was terrible." Apollo laughed from the driver's seat.

"Hey, you managed to not puke; that got ya in my good books." He grinned mischievously as he leapt over the side of the car. "You could probably hold your liquor! When your sixteen, hit me up and we can go dri-"He was interrupted when a sea-green eyed boy jumped over the car bonnet and pulled me into a painful hug.

"Percy!" Theo laughed as he strangled me with his one-armed hug. "We thought you were dead!"I didn't reply, instead; I focused on not throwing up over my friend as he squeezed me tighter.

Apollo clicked his fingers and the feeling instantly disappeared, instead; a warm feeling akin to Hestia's warmth spread through my body. He winked at me lazily as four other figures stepped down from the beach.

"Theo?" Said boy hummed in response.

"I'm dying here." He let go immediately, an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry!" He yelped as I let in a large breath of air, he immediately backed up towards the other three and grinned to me.

"I told you he wasn't dead..." Grover mumbled, he smiled and waved at me with a hand holding several figurines. "Hi Perce." I chuckled and waved back as he was passed several cards and figurines by the small kid next to him who immediately bounded up towards me. I recognized him as the boy we had saved earlier, his pale face glowed in the moonlight and his curly dark hair bobbed up and down as he jumped with excitement.

"You're Percy, right? I'm Nico!" The boy held his hand out for me to shake. "Thanks for saving us!" He paused and looked at Theo. "Was that okay?" Theo sighed and face palmed.

"Nico, you weren't supposed t- Ah, who cares. Nico, meet Percy, Percy, meet Nico. He rolled his eyes as Nico shook my hand repeatedly in glee.

"So did you summon that massive blade by yourself? What about the trident? Can you actually lift the blade? Do you have other weapons?" I stopped him with a wave of my hands.

"One question at a time, Nico" I chuckled as Apollo stepped out to greet the fourth person.

"Thalia! Dear mortal sister, how are you?" He chuckled at her weirded-out face. Thalia looked over at us from where she was standing and pointed at Apollo.

"Who is this creep?" I refused to laugh when several Hunters that had just come out from their tents that had recently been pitched up at the bottom of the cliff snickered at Thalia; she looked utterly confused as the sun god's smile faltered.

"That's Apollo." I informed her quickly; she blinked once, and then blinked again before sizing up the god who still held his arms out for a hug, his happy smile returning. "-Y'know, the sun god."

"You sure?" Apollo's shoulders slumped as he threw his arms up in the air in exasperation. "That's it! I'm going off to fade now! No-one recognizes me anymore!" He spun an entire 360 degrees as Thalia stared at him before flashing a smile to the Hunters. "And how are my baby sis' girls?" Said girls did nothing but stare at him too. Thalia snorted quietly at the sun god's reaction quietly, she seemed to have cheered up after she had been calmed down when Annabeth had been taken.

He nodded wisely. "Yup, you guys too." His sarcastic act was dropped, however, when a small girl ran out from the crowd of hunters. His sullen look was replaced with a wide happy smile as he crouched down to greet the oncoming girl.

"Papa!" She yelped when the god swung her off her feet, she looked like a younger version of the man himself, with golden hair and a small splash of freckles dotting her cheeks. "Hello papa!" She grinned when Apollo ruffled her hair.

"How's my baby Orphea, other big nasty girls treating you well?" He teased her as she crossed her arms and headbutted him.

"I'm not a baby, papa" Her accent was Italian, it sounded a lot more noticeable than Nico's, whose accent was barely noticeable. "Also, those big nasty girls are very nice!" She waved to some Hunters who waved back instantly.

"You'll always be a baby girl in front of your papa, even when you grow big and strong." He tapped her on the nose. "Auntie Artemis is going away, so I'm taking you to Camp! You'll see your brothers and sisters!" She let out a happy cheer and I swear that a few Hunters smiled at the interaction, even if the smiles disappeared immediately after. Apollo set the girl down and patted her head. "Go on back to the big nasty girls; Papa needs to take you to camp first, alright?" She nodded happily before slipping away back into the crowd. Apollo chuckled as he watched her and Chloe excitedly talk and point at the car parked on the beach.

"Alright..." He drawled as he clapped his hands once, the sports car turned into a limousine. "Wait-"He clapped his hands again, the limousine turning into a scooter."Sometime this year-" He clapped his hands several times, the scooter turning into a city car, spitfire plane, chariot and then finally, a bright yellow school bus that had a bright red STOP sign plastered on its side. "Alright! All aboard!" He opened the door and hopped in; I shared a look with Theo and shrugged at his questioning expression. What could go wrong anyways?

" _Slow down! I was joking! I don't want to fade!"_ Apollo screamed from his remarkably safe four-seatbelt enforced seat, I caught Theo by the arm as he tumbled out of his seat when the bus veered to the right and missed a cloud nymph by centimetres.

" _How the hell am I supposed to know how to drive!"_ Thalia wasn't faring much better. Her face was pale. Her hands were shaky and she yanked the steering wheel to the right. Several Hunters yelped and probably fell out their seats, I could see Zoë's tiara circling the ground and snatched it up quickly before it could roll out the door, it did seem pretty important, after all..

" _You're sixteen!"_

" _You're several millennia old! Why are we talking about age anyway?!"_ She wailed back as the bus sharply rose into the sky and then dipped down low. I tried to ignore the lurching feeling in my stomach and shoved an empty can of kidney beans that Grover had been clutching into his mouth to stop his screaming.

" _Papa!"_ Orphea laughed as she stared at the pale-faced god. _"Again! Again!"_ He sat her down, tied her to the seat with five seatbelts and held her down securely as the bus lurched dangerously through a raincloud.

"Stop thine bus!" Zoë yelled from the back, she held onto her seat tightly, her usually long silky black hair tied into a ponytail as she and Phoebe both held onto Chloe to prevent the laughing girl from falling out a window.

" _I don't know the brakes!"_ This was bad; Thalia was starting to lose it. I let go of Theo's arms as he grabbed Nico to prevent the boy from falling as I stood up shakily and almost slipped into the back when the bus suddenly angled up and shot into the sky.

"Thalia! It should be a pedal!" I made my way cautiously towards the front and held onto a bar for safety, at this rate my feet weren't going to have ground at this point. "We're practically there! The lake's right below us!" I peered over to see the daughter of Zeus pressing buttons indiscriminately. _"It's a pedal for Hades' sake!"_ She looked back and stared at me, tears welling up in her eyes.

" _What one?!"_ Apollo stepped next to me, using my shoulder as a support. He looked down at the pedals and pointed to one. "That one! Push it gently or-"Thalia refused to listen and slammed her foot on the brake pedal. Immediately, the bus stopped to a halt and immediately everyone was flung forward.

I went out the window though.

I stared at the stopped bus, angled dangerously in the air with its bright red STOP sign plastered like a lucky mascot on the side and blinked.

 _What the-_

I let out a tiny _eep_ and proceeded to plummet down.

It isn't a funny feeling, falling. It felt like everything was happening at a very slow pace but my mind was going five hundred miles an hour, I could see the shock plastered on everyone's faces and every detail on each and every one of them as their eyes seemed to slowly move from the broken windshield to me.

I wasn't scared, though. After all; I had been in some- _Who am I kidding, this is fucking terrifying!_ The very breath was snatched by my lungs as I plummeted, the clouds didn't cushion me either, contrary to popular belief. It was strange, I was terrified yet exhilarated at the same time, and as I stared at the broken bits of glass falling beside me; I couldn't help but let out a silent laugh as I ravelled down, clutching the silver tiara in my hands.

Random thoughts seeped through my mind like flour in a sieve; who truly was the Exo Stranger? Did you have to marry Anri because she was Hollow or was it FromSoft giving out fanservice? Did Thalia use a perfume for that ozone smell around her? Did the Stolls actually play Minecraft? Did Zoë use hair conditioner? Was I going to die? All these thoughts seem to race through my head as I burst through the wall of cloud; travelling to the lake below me. I caught a glimpse of Camp through my watery eyes, the campfire and the lava wall shone brightly with small lights decorating the sides as small orange figures moved around.

 _Nice view from he-_ A blaring horn scared me half to death and a set of floodlights blinded me momentarily. Turning to the side; I squinted at the approaching yellow bus-with Apollo as the driver- as he screamed something lost in the wind, the bus plunged through the barrier of clouds at a terrifying speed as the broken windscreen shimmered slightly, as if the god had cast a barrier to prevent everyone's hair from being affected by wind, I giggled at the small joke in my head and clutched the tiara with both of my hands.

 _You can't be serious_. The bus burst through the clouds above with a loud _bang!_ And hurtled down towards me. _Oh dear merciful gods of all that is holy, they're serious._ I cleared my head of all thoughts as I watched the bright yellow school bus descended onto me like an eagle snatching its prey.

 _Oh no._ I took a look at Apollo, his expression fierce as his mouth was open in a silent scream; there was Zoë at the back, her entire complexion was pale as she and Phoebe held a now screaming Chloe to her chair, Theo who looked like someone told him that every bit of seaweed he ate was poisoned, Thalia had passed out next to Grover who was half-clutching, half-chewing a new empty can of tomato soup. _Ohnnononononononononono._

"Percy! Get ready!" Apollo's vice was distant, but it could be heard. I stared down at Long Island and back to the bus, it was so close now, close enough to see the chew marks on Grover's can and the veins bulging on Phoebe's arms.

" _Get ready for what?!"_ I screamed back, flailing my arms as he gestured to the floor.

" _Teleport! Now!"_ I stared at the floor of the bus as Theo's empty milkshake bottle rolled around. I must've made a face because Apollo seemed to roar angrily at me. " _Turn yourself into a weapon!"_

" _I'm pretty sure that physics doesn't work like that!"_ I narrowly missed a cleaning harpy who squawked in furious feathered protest as it waved its feather duster angrily.

" _Shut up! I'm a god!"_

 _Fair enough._ I let go of the Trident and inhaled sharply as the distinct feeling of a vice pressuring down my stomach (Annabeth had slapped me when I described it) increased in pain the edges of my vision turning blue and distorting as my body gave way to my power. I could only watch as the Trident of the Sea seemingly hung in the air for a second before the open windshield of the bus sucked it in as fast as a freight train; the bus curved up instantly; literally everyone falling back. I rematerialised and rolled on the ground instantly and looked around frantically. Nico and his sister Bianca were hugging each other to the wall while Thalia was still dead to the world and Theo's faces were a deathly pale as the bus continued its rapid rise back into the skies.

" _Apollo! Stop this thing!"_ My left arm popped back into existence, waving the particles of energy away from my face as I immediately latched hold onto the closest thing that was held down-which actually was Phoebe's leg, though I couldn't see as the bus did a loop and swerved right).

At least Apollo listened to me.

He slammed the brakes once again, throwing everyone forward as I slammed back into the ground face-first, an unpleasant crunching sound came from my nose and I hissed in pain. I scrambled up and looked out the window as soon as the bus slowly landed evenly on the ground, clutching my bleeding nose- I looked up at the shocked Chiron-whom had appeared by the bus with several wide-eyed campers. An unspoken message went between us and he nodded grimly before cantering away-presumably to fetch the Apollo campers.

"Well-"Apollo looked as if he had climbed up to Olympus and back down again. "-that was fun!"

 _Crack!_

"I still can't believe she assaulted me." Apollo grumbled as he tossed my bag to me, catching it with ease, I tapped my nose-now fixed, the sun god had been merciful enough- and grinned.

"You kind of deserve it." Apollo mock groaned and sat against the bus, his bright red _STOP_ sign nowhere to be seen.

"Too many years with my sister has given them a bad example Perce! No man's gotta live like that." He grinned and closed his eyes, seemingly savouring the feeling of ground again. "But I did not know that my little sis couldn't drive- my little mortal one" He corrected at my raised eyebrow. I snickered and slung my bag over my shoulder. "that also was quite the trick you did there, I'm quite impressed you survived."

"Which bit? The bit where I fell out the windshield and almost died or the bit where Phoebe kicked me out the side window and almost died?"

"Obviously the first, we'd already landed by the time the second incident had happened." Apollo joked before frowning. "You okay though? I feel like throwing you out the window was a bit much, even for a Hunter." I shrugged indifferently and patted my pockets, nothing but Zoë's tiara inside and sighed, there went my extra drachmas.

"I'll blame Thalia, this time." He ran a hand through his windblown golden locks and yawned, "It's been a hectic day."

"Thalia's been a tree most her life anyway."

"She can still kill me, she's scary."

"But... you know, she probably has more _bark_ than bite." Apollo grinned at my little quip and ruffled my hair.

"Ahem." Someone pointedly cleared their throat behind me, my smile faded quickly when I watched the sun god's expression morph from surprise, then guilt and then fear. I sighed, shoulders slumping.

"She's right behind me, isn't she?"

" _Perseus Jackson, get the fuck back here!"_ At least Thalia had seemed better, her pale skin had faded back to its original color and her green complexion had disappeared, the haunting expression that had lingered around her face ever since Annabeth had been captured was replaced with pure rage as she crackled with electricity.

Or maybe it was because she was so angry, her face was red.

"Thalia! I can explain!" I ducked under a bush to see a bolt of lightning scorch the branches and leaves that unfortunately had been located around my head at the time. A tree nymph shook her fist angrily at the two of us as she wrapped the branches with her shawl.

" _Bastard! Get back here!"_

"No! I don't wanna die!"

" _I'm killing you anyway!"_

"-And that is why I'm defending the flag." I finished to a wide-eyed Nico, he was currently wearing an oversized Greek helmet with a massive plume that dangled in front of his eyes, his leather armor had been untidily done and the weapon he was currently wielding was a wooden sword. Like all people below thirteen; Nico was to stay out of the fight and only observe as the Camp fought against the Hunt.

So are you gonna be doing any cool stuff?" His hopeful eyes looked up to me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Nah, defending the flag is boring business; Hunters always win so anyone who defends the flag usually just steps down to avoid a beating." Nico frowned, as if he couldn't believe that I was going to surrender.

"But you're being a coward!" He yelped, his face morphing into a slight frown as he stared at me, I winced slightly at his words and nodded slowly.

"Maybe... Maybe I am..." I self-consciously fiddles with the torn fabric of my silver parka,"They've won fifty-five times already, kinda guarantees a beating." Nico folded his arms and huffed.

"Why are you scared anyway? Is it because you're weak?" My eye twitched at his accuracy. "Go out and fight them!" He nodded as his smile came back. "You're not weak!" He cheered as he shoved me out of the planning tent and towards the flag which stood proudly on Zeus' Fist.

"Wait- What makes you think that?" I gulped slightly as a hunting horn signalled the start of the game. I looked around me, nothing but a few empty tents that were used for planning, other sentries who were supposed to be guarding the flag-they were playing _Uno_ for god's sakes! - And a pile of boulders.

"Cause you're Percy!" Nico pumped his fist into the air. "You make blades come outta nowhere and _blam!_ They're dead! You could just rain blades on them until they die!" He laughed.

I blanched slightly. "We're not killing them, this is a game." His smile faltered.

"We beat them up!"

"You don't do the fighting."

"You beat them up!"

"Not possible." I stared down at the small padding of leather armor that covered my chest and the black jeans I wore. "Definitely not possible."

"But you're a hero! Heroes never go down without a fight!" I frowned slightly at his words, _Hero?_ I chuckled slightly and ruffled the plume on his head; he yelped and adjusted the helmet as I smiled kindly down at him.

"I'm glad you think of me as a hero, but the game's started and I'd be killed my Chiron if you got hurt, so can you join them-" I pointed to the campers playing their card game. "So you don't get hurt?" _Please hurry, before you get shot at._ Nico bobbed his head up and down and bounded over to the others after I had hastily shoved him away- all whom gave him strange looks and then shrugging, returning to their card game. Nico turned back to me; his thumbs up could be barely seen above another camper's head. I sighed as a flash of silver caught my vision. _I could run for it_ , I mused, _but Nico wouldn't forgive me for that, and I'm not exactly the greatest when it comes down to making people sad._ I let out a nervous grin to the other campers who stared at me with looks of pity. _Just think about the one chance in a billion where I win._

That was when she decided to appear, her black hair tied up in a bun as her volcanic black eyes darted around the clearing, looking for potential traps, her eyes spotted the campers playing _Uno_ and continued to skim over the empty tents until they landed on me. I let out a nervous chuckle and waved slightly.

"Hi Zoë." She didn't acknowledge my opinion as she continued to stalk towards the flag; I stood, frozen as she walked up to the boulders. It was only when she passed by me when I remembered how to move, it was strange. Really; this overwhelming feeling of giddiness enveloped me as I smiled at the Huntress, my grin growing by the second, it was a feeling so foreign... Yet so familiar.

 _Hestia, what have you done?_

 _Oopsies._ As quick as she had came, the hearth goddess was gone, leaving nothing but a tinkling laugh that echoed throughout my head.

"Ah- sorry, Zoë. But you can't really take the flag-"I held out my arm, stopping her from reaching over; she stared coldly from the corners of her eyes as I continued, my voice growing stronger. "It's kind of the game thing, to be honest. If you take the flag- you win." I chuckled slightly at my own words. "And Nico over there doesn't want you winning." Said boy gave a wave, his bright red plume dancing in the air as his head bobbed up and down.

 _I don't know why I'm being like this. In front of Zoë of all people! Oh dear gods, oh dear sweet merciful, almighty, forgiving ad benevolent beings above._

"... Very well." Zoë muttered, I blinked at her sudden agreement and started to smile when I was struck on the cheek and was thrown onto the boulders from the force, not the greatest landing. I looked up in slight shock to see Zoë still standing in her original position, her hands reaching for her daggers tucked in at her waist.

"Did you just bitch-slap me?" I snickered at the thought; several other campers laughed quietly along with me and were silenced when Zoë's second knife pierced their _Draw 4!_ Card.

"Oh, dear." _Why am I being so cocky and arrogant?! Stop! It's Hestia's fault!_ "Looks like the great Zoë Nightshade can't handle a couple of laughs." I stood up and stared at her, my even stare facing her deathly cold one.

"If thou'st can say, yet not hath the blessing of thine gods. Then what hath thee use for?" Her tone was chiding as her glare intensified.

I grinned back at her. "Well, I'll pretend to understand whatever you were talking about." _I did understand that, and it hurt. So maybe I should just stop and apologize, it'd hurt less that way._ "But of course, I never expected you to be smart enough to..." I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "'Get with the times', No?" She let out a quiet growl and pounced at me, her daggers cutting a thin line on my cheek as I hopped back.

 _Holy guacamole, I feel... Great! My body seems to memorize the terrain and I can keep up with Zoë! This is awes-_ my thoughts were interrupted when she performed a backspin kick and landed a hit on my jaw. I winced slightly at the pain and turned back towards her. I could still hear Hestia's laughing and groaned, maybe this was her doing.

"Pay... Attention!" Zoë grunted as I barely deflected her daggers in time by guarding with the forming pommel of the Blade of the Hearth, I held the handle protectively in my left as my right hand swiped the Trident of the Sea out of my Heraldic Armory and held it up in a defensive stance, the Blade of Hestia forming quickly, the weight making me lower my guard temporarily..

"Whoa, Zoë, you could have hit me!" I jumped back and deflected a dagger thrown at me, the sound of metal on metal made me wince slightly as the dagger scraped across the Trident and embedded itself inside a rock beside me. She cocked her head at me and frowned.

"I hath not known such a cocky and arrogant persona hid under thine cowardly face." She hissed, I smiled back radiantly. _Oh dear, what's wrong with me, oh dear we got to stop this. Stop STOP STOP!_

"I'm charming just like that-" I yelped slightly as I ducked under a horizontal slant and winced when she struck me with the pommel of the dagger."I dunno either, Zoë; I just felt light- headed like I can do anything!" I grinned at her impassive face as I stood, perched above a boulder.

I jabbed forward with Bob and rammed my shield into her body as she dodged away from my Trident; she immediately recovered and leapt back, her hand fumbling in the air as she muttered something in Ancient Greek.

"What are you- _Ok that isn't friendly!_ " A silver bolt launched itself from the ring of Greek letters and disintegrated a boulder behind me. Zoë immediately dropped down into a crouching formation and pounced, both daggers flashing dangerously as she began her furious onslaught on my rather pitiful defense, the Trident blocking most attacks while my left hand moved the massive cumbersome blade, trying to hit the lithe girl.

I tried to go on the offensive, twisting my ack and using the Blade of the Hearth's weight to speed up the attack while the Trident jabbed forward menacingly, Zoë let out a scoff and immediately dropped onto the ground, letting the massive greatsword pass over her harmlessly. I grunted slightly and stumbled back, the weight of the blade dragging my arm and painfully straining my back as I recovered from the swing.

Stabbing forward with the Trident, all I could do was watch slowly as Zoë seemed to slip right past the attack, her silver daggers locking onto the edges and tearing the Trident out of my hands. Kicking my legs and using a foot to trip me, she immediately stamped down onto my stomach and placed a knife at my throat.

"Yield."

"Y'know, usually I'd say something like 'I'll never!' but-" I coughed as she appied pressure on my stomach. "Yielding sounds pretty good, doesn't it?" the dropped blade shattered into crystals and the Trident beside us did the same. Zoë raised a hand silently and five silver-clad girls appeared from atop the trees immediately, they took one look at me, snickered, grabbed the flag and left quickly, the brightly colored flag tucked in the waist of the lead Hunter.

Zoë stepped away from her position and sheathed her daggers the moment the ending horn sounded, I propped myself up against the rocks and rubbed my throat gently. "Good fight, i guess?" Zoë snorted and patted her shoulders for imaginary dust. Turning to me momentarily, she looked like she wanted to say something, but Nico bounded over and helped me up while giving the lieutenant fof the Hunt a rather angry look.

"What now? Going to hurt my friends even more after you've stolen my sister?" He seemed to snarl, his usual bright, happy twelve year old face had darkened considerably as he and Zoë had a silent glaring contest. She scoffed and turned to leave.

"Thou'st put up a better fight than expected; Thou hath thine commendation on't learning from thine teachings." With that, she had disappeared back into the forest where the whoops of her sisters could be heard. I took one look at her fading back and looked at the young kid beside me, part of me wanted to chase her while the other wanted me to console him.

"Come on," I grinned to Nico, who's face returned to it's happy-go-lucky state the moment the huntress had disappeared. "Let's find your sister and grab some food!"

"And this marks the fifty-sixth victory for the Hunters!" Chiron's voice sounded tired, as if he was long used to this kind of declaration, the Hunters seated at the Artemis table laughed and jeered at the other campers who either pointedly ignored them or bristled in anger. I chuckled at Nico, who had approached and dragged away his now-silver clad sister and was pointing at me excitedly and making wild gestures with his hands. Bianca smiled and nodded; with her hair now tied back, I finally got a proper look at her, she had several similarities to Nico, both having olive skin, black eyes and high cheekbones. But she had a small splash of freckles dotting her pale cheeks and small dimples that appeared as she smiled when Nico pointed at me and waved, huh, she was a lot cuter than I thought. I waved back, my Capri-sun in hand.

The time up to dinner hadn't been eventful; the flag had been surrendered, the tents were taken down and Nico was complaining about the girl's unfairness the entire time as he had tried to remove pegs from the Athena tent. I had dropped him off by the armory with his sister –she had come rushing over from her side of the flag after the game and hugged her brother- as he took off his armor and headed towards the dining pavilion; _at least I haven't been knocked out yet_. I chuckled quietly at my own quip.

"-And so, that's why Zoë got the quest, not me." Theo muttered as he plopped himself down next to me at the Hermes table instead of the Poseidon table.

"Sorry what?" Me and the Stolls both answered in unison, I shared a grin with them and turned to Theo, who looked rather irritated, they both left the table in a hurry and dragged Nico away from a blossoming argument between him and a Hunter. I grinned; at least they knew when to run from trouble.

"Me and Thalia got into a fight, and then the mummy lady showed up and half-strangled Zoë." I snickered slightly at his description of the Oracle and frowned at the lack of the lieutenant at the Hunter's table; Theo summoned a plate of steak and held his fork tentatively.

"What was the prophecy?"

"Dunno," Theo took a bite out of his steak. "A goddess was captured, something about a quester dying in a land without rain, another _finding_ his or her true parentage and how someone would die from their father's hand." He looked perturbed. "That'd mean two people die in this quest, and the quest calls for five people, didn't hear the rest though."

"Five people." I stared at the salad in front of me. "Isn't three always the way to go?" He nodded slowly as I frowned at him, his sea-green eyes, usually bright with mischievousness and happiness, seemed to be darkened with worry and nervousness.

"I don't know why the Fates are doing this, it's always been three and if only three go; then can we prevent two deaths?" He stabbed his steak and cut into it silently.

"You're probably going to be picked anyway. " I tried to keep the bitter tone out of my voice. "And seeing how Poseidon would never kill you, and you're always near some form of water- I'd say you've got it pretty good." He gave me an uneasy smile as he pushed the now-cut steak around his plate nervously.

"Thing is, Percy-"The brightly lit dining pavilion didn't seem to bright anymore, the flames that flickered in the sacrificial braziers seemed to dim and all chatter seemed to quieten down. "I wasn't chosen to be on the quest, you know; Zoë picks and all that." He bit his lip as he glanced at me worriedly. I frowned slightly at his reaction and bit into a piece of lettuce, watching the Stolls laugh with Nico across the table.

"I don't get it, why not? You're the strongest demigod in camp right now, aren't you?" I joked as I looked back at Theo and froze; he looked deathly pale like he did on the bus, but the way he looked at me; as if he was seeing me for the last time in his life.

"Percy."

"Yeah?" I put my fork down as he pushed his plate aside and stared at me, his knuckles that gripped the edge of the table were slowly turning white. Something was wrong, very wrong, He breathed in quietly and turned to me fully, his mouth pursed into a thin line. "What's wrong then? Why are you so worried?" I joked with him, his expression didn't change.

"I wasn't chosen to be on the quest." He repeated slowly, as if he had trouble believing the words. "Do you know who else the Hunters have had contact with in camp apart from Thalia and Grover?"

Everything clicked into place, like a machine without a clog had the perfect piece installed.

"Oh. _Oh._ "

 **That's a wrap! I got one test to go and then FREEDOM! I'll respond to reviews now every three chapters alright? If it isn't a message via pm then it'll be on the end of my chappie itself, I'll probs put a warning for you.**

 **I've been feeling like a potato, the last few days and didn't even do anything but procrastinate as I sat through my exams. Good times.**

 **Also, I've been thinking of fleshing out Bianca's character more for a potential ship, both she and Zoë had potential and didn't deserve to be killed off in one book soo... (This was totally not influenced by someone, Okay? Okay.)**

 **I also made this chapter 6000-ish words long. I dunno; just feel like writing more to make up for the non-weekly updates. I apologise for any spelling mistakes, for my bad timing and just being a terrible author in general. And I apologise if it seemed rushed, if you don't like the pairing or if you just hate me in general. Please get in line.**

 **I thank you kindly for reading my works. And if you're still here sometime next week- I'll see you then.**


	6. I V

I didn't sleep well that night, well, as well as one could with Connor and Travis in the same room. But even then, at three in the morning, I couldn't rest at all, repeatedly tossing and turning in the stuffy cabin before finally giving up and heading outside.

The campfire flickered dimly by the side and the pale moon shone on the peaceful ocean, a sight of tranquillity, yet the scene did nothing to help with my emotions. I sat myself down on a tree root and covered myself with the thin blanket I had taken out with me. Staring out to the glittering ocean, I sighed.

 _Why me? Of all people?_

This just wasn't fair, everything in that prophecy could refer to me, and why would Zoë even pick me when there was Theo or Grover? Was _she_ afraid of the prophecy relating to her so she chose the best candidate? A small bubbling feeling, akin to hatred, festered inside my stomach as I buried my face into my hands. No tears, no fear. Just anger. It was an odd feeling I hadn't felt before, lke it had just been placed in my mind, as if someone _wanted_ me to-

"Percy?" I raised my head to the Hunt's newest member; she pushed back the black hair that had been bothering her face, her onyx eyes filled with worry. "You ok?" she asked shyly, tentatively stepping towards me. I gave her a small smile and nodded slightly.

"Peachy, Bianca, I'm fine." She didn't believe me.

"Then why are you out here?" Bianca challenged my answer instantly.

"Bianca, it usually isn't good manners to question someone's answe-"

"Why are you out here?" I sighed and patted the ground next to me, she sat herself down beside me and pulled a part of the blanket onto her lap.

"Same reason as you, I guess. Just can't sleep because of the quest tomorrow." She hummed in agreement and leaned back against the tree. "... I'm also just wondering about the prophecy" She cocked her head and frowned, her eyebrows scrunching cutely.

"Five shall go west to the goddess in chains... Right?" I nodded slightly and returned my gaze to the ocean. "One shall be lost in the land without rain? I think?"

"Did you miss a line?"

"I dunno, Zoë didn't tell me much when she got back to our cabin. Just that she had chosen me."

"The next lines were 'A hero will rejoice in discovery of parentage, yet lose themselves in the knowledge of heritage'..." I trailed off and slumped against the tree. "Sounds perfect, doesn't it?" Bianca chuckled and curled up next to me, for a minute we just sat there, enjoying each other's warmth as we pondered on the words before she spoke up.

"I don't know my father" I blinked slightly at the sudden outburst. I turned my head slightly to look at her. "I mean, I really don't know who he is." She hid behind her hair and mumbled something incoherent. I chuckled and patted her shoulder reassuringly.

"Well, it says that you'll rejoice when you find out who he is, yeah?" She joined me in our quiet laughing bout and then breathed out quietly.

"Yeah, but the next line... Scares me." She mumbled, I watched her out of my peripheral vision as she stretched out and laid down beside me. I hummed in agreement as a wind blew in an odd direction, causing the trees behind us to rustle ominously, our meaningless conversation slowly died out until all that could be heard was the waves on the shore and the wind behind us. "Percy?" She sounded extremely timid.

"Yeah?"

"I don't like the dark." She had wrapped herself into a ball beside me and was hiding behind her hair again, I smiled slightly at how cute she was acting and threw the blanket over her head playfully. "Or the wind, it makes the leaves make that sound that those snake ladies make." She poked her head out from the blanket and glared ruefully at me.

"If it helps..." I trailed off, unsure of whether to say anything or not. _Ah, damn it. Who cares, anyway?_ "If it helps-"I began, my voice much stronger now. "-I don't know my father either, and I'm pretty sure the 'losing themselves', the 'fall by a father's hand' and just about everything in that prophecy is to me." That got her attention, she lifted her head slightly and looked at me questioningly, I frowned slightly and slipped my silver parka off and placed it beneath her head. "There, should be better than the tree root- Oh, yeah. I don't know my father, and I'm super weak, so I'd kinda die in tis place without rain. I'm pretty sure that knowing who my dad is would do more damage to me than 'rejoice', he's put me in a lot of shit." Bianca chuckled slightly and nestled her head in my parka.

"And that everyone's looking at me weirdly, even Hestia and Apollo; he also mentioned how I'd meet my father 'someday' while having an almost saddened look on his face. So he knows something, and he is the god of prophecy, after all." I tapped my chin and grinned at her. "See? I'm pretty smart, Annabeth always calls me dumb!" A small pang of sadness shot through me, how was Annabeth doing anyway? I knew she would be alive to her former connections to Luke and the fact that she was clearly being used as bait if anyone was having a dream about whatever was going on with Artemis and Annabeth.

"You know," Bianca mumbled sleepily. "I think that's why I can be so comfortable around you, we're practically destined to die..." She trailed off as I frowned at her stilled body.

"... Bianca?" I looked down at her unmoving form, her small hand resting on top of mine. "Did you fall asleep?" No answer, only the creepy sounds coming from the forest and the gentle lapping of the waves kissing the shore. I stifled a snicker when she began to snore slightly, her head still buried in my parka.

It was cold without my jacket, I rubbed my bare arms slightly to keep heat and wrapped myself up next to the peaceful girl, gently placing the blanket over her sleeping form, I rolled my eyes when she immediately snatched it up and wrapped it around herself.

 _Greedy little glutton_

"Percy? Why are you sleeping with my sister?" My eyes shot open immediately, sitting up frantically, I accidentally elbowed Bianca who groaned sleepily and muttered a "Gimme five minutes Nico..." and rolled onto her side. Nico was standing above me, his arms folded as he stared at us. I blinked slightly and the harsh light and raised a hand to cover my eyes. "Wha...?"

"You didn't do anything, right?" He was trying to sound cross, but his eyes shone with mischief and he was still in his borrowed oversized bright green pyjamas which had bright yellow stickers plastered to them. "Am I getting a nephew or niece anytime soon?" He grinned cheekily.

"Nico!" Bianca shot up, her usually-straight hair in a tangled mess and her face bright red as a tomato, not that I could say that my face looked any different. She was wide awake in seconds. "Don't say misleading things like that!" Nico laughed and bounded away like the free spirit he was, turning back momentarily, he hollered at us from the forest, his loud voice scaring away morning birds who squawked at him angrily.

"Breakfast is in half an hour! And I want him to be called Haytham!"

"What? Want who?" I turned to Bianca questioningly, she did nothing but curl up in her blanket, the blush growing even deeper. "Oh..." Realization dawned on me a second later and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from dissolving into a giggling mess as Bianca looked mortified.

"You know-"I snorted slightly. "I always liked the name Cynthia, would that be good if it was a girl?"

 _Smack!_

"Percy and Bianca, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-Oof!" Nico stopped singing when I flicked a pea at him. "Don't play with your food!" Conner cried out dramatically as he threw a forkful of mashed potato at Travis (Who actually caught it in his mouth, gulped it down and proceeded to stab his twin with said fork) "But what's this about Percy and Nico's sister?" Travis leaned in and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Anything... Scandalous?" Nico choked on his orange juice and dissolved into laughter with the rest of the table. I groaned slightly and continued to stab at my broccoli, the bright green vegetable seemed to become so much more interesting.

"No, nothing like that, Why would you even think tha-"

"Percy! I'm glad I caught you in time, here's your jacket back, I also put our blanket away into the pack for the journey later on today." Bianca had popped up; she had come running from the Artemis cabin with her hair freshly washed and clothes changed, holding my parka and was smiling sweetly. Her smile faltered when she saw my utterly horrified face. "Percy?" The table was in an uproar as everyone laughed rambunctiously, my self-esteem crept in; of course I couldn't stand with being laughed at, nor being the center of attention. I could feel Zoë's eyes boring into the back of my skull as I quietly accepted my parka back from Bianca, who cocked her head and frowned at me. "Percy? Is everything alright? Is this because of last nigh-"

"Stop. _Right. There._ " She blinked and stared at me. _"Please."_ But the damage had already been done.

"So then, Percy-" Nico started, his orange juice dripping down his chin as he wiped it away hurriedly as he cackled gleefully.

"-What's this Journey for later on?-"Lou Ellen, another unclaimed; who was sat next to me grinned savagely. "It must be quite taxing, for you and your di-"

" _Okay then! It's a fine morning! Bye!"_ With that, Bianca disappeared to the Hunter's tale, her face brighter than a stop light. I however, didn't have the chance to move.

"So then, our boy becomes a man!" The Stolls cried out in unison and knocked over several glasses of juice when they stood up; their glasses raised high to the rest of the camp. "To Percy! For becoming a man, _last night_!" The rest of the camp stared at them strangely as the twins and the rest of the Hermes cabin collapsed from laughter, Theo however, not getting the meaning-bless his ignorant soul- stood up and cheered too.

" _For Percy!"_

 _Kill me now._

Needless to say, the drive to... Somewhere in the west was awkward.

I was sandwiched next to a sleeping Thalia who had bags under her bloodshot eyes when we had arrived at Half-Blood Hill and a fidgeting Bianca, who refused to look in my direction at all. Phoebe was having a conversation with Zoë-who was driving, her being qualified by just a few thousand years- in Ancient Greek and I had been smart enough to bring my Playstation Vita console that my mother had bought for me when I was ten.

Phoebe muttered something and Zoë replied back sharply as we slipped through traffic. I mashed a few buttons as I watched Bianca stare down at my screen slightly as I occupied myself with my game.

 _Grant us eyes, grant us eyes..._ I frowned and stabbed at the pixelated character on screen. "You little tentacle star-shooting shit." I cursed quietly as Bianca giggled at my YOU DIED screen. "I hate this." I flicked on another game as the rain started to come down lightly on our roof.

Thalia snored quietly, Bianca occasionally let out small gasps when I dodged an attack-I hated myself for secretly being pleased that she did- Phoebe had gone to sleep and Zoë kept her eyes trained on the roads.

" _Yes."_ I hissed as I stared at the fading body of my enemy. "Bout time you died."

 _Mark my words, Ashen One._

 _You remain among the Accursed_

I set aside my console and rubbed my eyes, Bianca had gone back to not looking at me, Thalia was still sleeping, as was Phoebe and Zoë was still driving.

"I'm pretty hungry." I spoke up, eager for anything to get rid of the silence that was driving me mad. "I have my birthday money on me, we can buy some sandwiches." I wasn't actually hungry, I had already eaten my fill at breakfast and it hadn't even been a hour yet. Bianca snorted quietly and continued staring at the rolling droplets.

"That was the best conversation starter you had?" I crossed my arms and huffed dramatically.

"Well it was either that or saying that I needed the toilet, but I doubt that you'd want to hear the intricacies and all that." She laughed quietly as I continued staring out the window. "Seriously, though. When are we going to get there? Actually, where are we going?"

"The Smithsonian." Zoë spoke up, her eyes narrowing at me through the rear-view mirror. "Thy dream the past night hath shown me where unto find the General."

"Oh... Ok..." The room faded into silence again, I frowned slightly at the uncomfortable quietness. "Bianca, do you think that the gift shop sells Mythomagic?" I grinned at her as her face brightened up. "Nico would love it if you bought him a souvenir.

"Actually, maybe they do sell it! It's a museum, after all. And Nico's just missing the Hades figurine and he's always pestering me whenever... Whenever... Huh," She chewed her lip slightly. "I... Don't remember." I blinked at her, how could she forget stuff so easily? I decided to change the subject, because that Bianca looked confused and anxious and totally not related to the fact that if she looked overwhelmingly cute when she bit her lip and- "Are you ok with this? The Hunt, I mean." I noticed Zoë's eyes staring at me, not angrily like I thought they would be, but questioningly. It almost made me regret the statement I had blurted out.

"I... I am." She admitted shyly, "Not like I want to give up Nico or anything, it's just-"

"You want to be free for once, am I right or am I right?" I sighed heavily. "I know the feeling."

"I don't like it though-"My eyebrow shot up. "-the man-hating bit." Zoë's eyebrow shot up too.

"What? But the Hunt is all about-"

"I know, I know!" Bianca waved her hand frantically to stop me and Zoë's combined questioning. "I know you guys have bad experiences with males and I completely agree on the avoiding males part if they're terrible and do bad things-"She caught herself and blushed at the sudden attention both of us were giving her. "It's just; can we not like the men that are good?" She finished quietly, fiddling with her seatbelt.

"I'm sure the world would be a better place with that mental-"

"Of course not, Men will betray thee with thy first chance given, thou'st not suffered the wrongdoings of man." Zoë spoke up, her voice filled with superiority and coldness fitting for a Hunter. The feeling inside me writhed and boiled, I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from snarling out.

"Betray you? Is that why you chose me for this quest? Because you knew about my past and instead of me betraying you, it's ok for you to do the same?" My voice had risen in volume and become heated, Thalia shuffled slightly and continued snoring, Phoebe must've been woken up by my voice judging by her uneven breathing.

"I do not see thou point."

"Spare me the bullshit; you know I don't have a father, and that you're running from some part of the prophecy by placing it on me. So I can die for your selfishness." I snapped at her angrily, she blinked in slight confusion at the sudden outburst. To be honest, I was surprised too; usually I'd end up running if Zoë sent me a glare with _half_ the killing intent.

"That t'was not thy inten-"

"Can it, I don't want to hear it." I pulled out my console and moodily mashed the side buttons as the screen lit up, watching the character on the screen. I knew it wasn't fair to say such things to Zoë, nor was it acceptable. But I needed to get it off my chest, after all; why else would there be a logical explanation to describe her behaviour? She had gone quiet and bit her lip-an extremely attractive action which I angrily ignored, Bianca was cuter anyway. I stuffed my earphones into my ears to drown out whatever conversation the now-awake Phoebe and the lieutenant were having.

 _Of course this quest is just gonna go fine. A-ok._

 _Five shall go west to the_ _goddess in chains_ _,_

 _One_ _shall be lost in the_ _land without rain_ _,_

 _The_ _bane of Olympus_ _shows the trail,_

 _Campers_ _and_ _Hunters_ _combined prevail,_

 _A hero will rejoice in discovery of parentage,_

 _Yet lose themselves in the knowledge of heritage'_

 _The_ _Titan's_ _curse_ _must_ _one_ _withstand,_

 _And_ _one_ _shall perish by a_ _parent's_ _hand._

"That's it, yeah?" Thalia slurped loudly from her slushie. "So-"Bianca sipped the glass of pomegranate juice thoughtfully. "Well, we know that the goddess is Artemis, and that someone's gonna... Y'know, die in someplace without rain." I nodded in agreement and poked the ice cube in my soda with the straw absentmindedly.

The three of us wee seated outside the _NATIONAL AIR & SPACE MUSEUM_'s cafe while Phoebe and Zoë-they'd 'borrowed' the money I had- went off to purchase supplies and whatnot.

"You know, I feel like I know this prophecy pretty well." Thalia didn't sound like she did.

"But we don't know anything about this bane; could it mean a massive being who destroys Olympus? Like, the Ragnarok of Greek Culture?" Bianca blinked at me.

"Wait what? Time out, time out. What's a Ragnarok?"

Thalia snorted in thinly veiled disgust. "It's basically the apo-ca-lypse" She spelled the word out as if she was speaking to a pre-schooler, Bianca's eye twitched slightly as her grip on her glass tightened.

"Oh, yeah. My bad, I'm supposed to remember some weirdo word from another language?" Thalia crushed the plastic slushie cup in her hand as her nostrils flared.

"No, you aren't even able to do simpler things than that."

"Like what?"

"Like leaving behind your brother to join a band of girls who traipse around the world handing out deadly bows and recruiting brochures."

"I'll have you know that I didn't need the brochure, Lady Artemis told me of the benefits herself-" I tuned the two out, they really seemed to despise each other despite being cousins, instead, something else caught my view. Across the road, a jet black limousine pulled up beside the numerous shuttle buses containing tourists and schoolchildren, my eyes narrowed as I stared at the driver as he climbed out and almost let out a quiet snarl when I saw a familiar tail poking out from his back. 

"I'm sure your daddy Zeus would be proud of yo- Percy? Where are you going?" Bianca stopped her argument to look at me as I stood abruptly from my seat.

"Bathroom." I muttered, watching as Thorn disappeared into a building next to the museum, Bianca shrugged and continued her argument with Thalia as I crossed the road, I spotted Zoë and Phoebe talking in the gift shop with bags in their hands and a group of mortals-armed mortals- stood sentry to the _PRIVATE SESSION_ room Thorn had entered. I scowled at the pair just as a shuttle bus parked in front of me, blocking everyone's view from reaching me.

"Perfect." I pulled out the two farming sickles Lady Demeter had given me and took aim, the first guard had already noticed me and was slowly walking towards me, his hand resting atop of his rifle's stock. I immediately took him out, slamming the hilt onto his head mid-warp and dropped him under a bus quietly as the other continued whistling as he stared in the other direction. The children in the bus that had parked itself in front of me stared down with wide-eyes, as if they were watching a PG-13 movie without consent.

I ignored them and immediately threw the left sickle through the air, the dull blade wrapped itself around the man's neck and I warped into him, my weight slamming him down onto the ground and locking his head between my legs until he stopped struggling. I grunted slightly and rolled off him, my muscles starting to burn.

Opening the door slightly, I wedged it open with my foot and threw my sickle, hearing it embed itself in the back of the bright yellow leather sofas; I warped towards the weapon, my trailing light dispersing into nothingness as the sunlight dancing on the smooth marble camouflaged it.

Hearing footsteps- loud heavy footfalls and smaller, lighter ones- I rolled under the sofa and tucked my weapons into my waistband, dispersing them would cause people to notice me, after all.

The room was larger on the inside than the outside, smooth black marble was the floor's surface and the walls were decorated in pre-schooler drawings and slightly torn cartoon wallpaper. Not the best combination, if you'd ask me.

I tensed slightly as the lights flickered on and the curtains were shut, the room was swathed in a bright red glow as I watched the larger pair of feet stop at a large seat in the middle of the room- I assumed it was a throne- and the massive being sat down.

"Curses, my neck is still sore after carrying that damned weight." His voice was deep and powerful, as if he was a giant capable of destroying the earth. "What brings you here, Thorn?" Another pair of feet, new ones, entered the room. I tried to concentrate as the Manticore started speaking, but was disturbed in my endeavour when the other human sat himself down on the sofa I was hiding under.

"The quest members are here, my lord." I could see his tail swishing nervously. "And we have procured the teeth for planting. The poison was easy to take out. Our Master pulled it out easier than... What do the mortals say- taking candy from a baby?"

"Very well, it's surprising to hear good news from you for once." Thorn visibly deflated as the General threw an item at the other being planted on the sofa. "You shall take things from here. Leave, Thorn." The Manticore stood up indignantly as his tail stiffened in anger.

"But... General! You said that I would be given my own battalion to command! Why am I doing naught but terrible chores!" I blinked slightly at the manticore's French accent.

 _Bah-tal-leon_ I stifled the sudden urge to giggle and continued watching the scene before me.

"-you failed to kidnap the children of the big Three, you are not worthy of being even a captain! Begone from my sight!" The giant bellowed at Thorn, he replied quickly with a meek 'Yessir' and disappeared, the door slamming shut behind him. I shifted slightly when the other human moved, his weight pressing painfully on my back.

"Now, Luke-"My eyes widened, the person above me was Luke? As in, Luke Castellan? Son of Hermes who basically was the first demigod to rebel against Olympus? "Have you got the bones, my boy?"

"Yes, General." It was definitely Luke; I'd recognise his voice anywhere in the world. "Shall we plant them now?" The General laughed a deep booming sound that seemed to shake the foundations of the building. "Then come! Let us plant the teeth!" Several mortals rushed in. I could hear boxes being placed down into onto the ground and watched mutely as teeth seemed to be embedded in the marble right in front of me, Luke swung his feet onto the couch and chuckled darkly as one mortal stepped forward, a tin watering can filled with a blood red substance within.

"Only the darkest of poisons of Tartarus can bring forth such strong beasts." The General gloated as the mortal poured the substance onto the ground. It seemed to gather in a pond at the mortals feet, and I watched in sick fascination as the liquid seemed to _melt_ the mortal, feet first.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. This poison came from Akhylls, and it requires the soul of mortals to become fully potent." I paled underneath the couch, the liquid shot into the air and engulfed the other mortal, and his screams were cut short when the liquid covered his head, yet my ears was still ringing.

A skull collapsed onto the ground and rolled underneath beside me, it's expression in a silent, permenant scream. I resisted the urge to throw up and swallowed down the uncomfortable lump in my throat when the liquid started to gently trail over to me.

"Luke, do you have the cloth?" Their voices sounded far away, as I watched the blood-red substance touch my fingernails, I bi down onto my lip to stop myelf from crying out from the agony.

"Yes, General."

"Good, when they are born, give them the cloth. They will not stop hunting until their prey is dead." The liquid had covered my hand; it immediately began to darken from a cherry red to crimson as an unimaginable pain shot through the hand, as if it was being pierced slowly with threading needles, one pore at a time. Unable to hold it anymore; I let out a muffled grunt of pain as I retracted my left hand immediately, temporarily savouring the relief and coolness from the liquid.

Until...

"What was that? Do we have an intruder?!" The General bellowed, my eyes widened slightly and I rolled out from underneath the couch. Not a second later, too. The bright yellow bloodstained sofa was thrown to the side as I lay there, face to face with one of the largest beings I've ever met.

He had dark hair that looked freshly cut and wore a black and white pinstriped suit with a single delicate white rose tucked into his breast pocket. His face had an almost royal look with his attitude, the look in his eyes and his face structure in general. And yet, something told me that he looked oddly familiar.

"Well, what's this? Looks like a rat decided to crawl out of it's hole." The man dusted his pinstriped suit and dropped Luke from his back as he stamped out the bubbling liquid and watched it seep into the cracks formed in the ground. "It seems like we're ready, my boy." He chuckled darkly as he retreated to the back of the room. "Quick! Luke! Drop the cloth!" The son of Hermes that had been staring at me mutely-was that shock or pity?- immediately produced a silver scarf from his pocket, it was a simple silver scarf which was lined with a volcanic black and pulsated silver, I didn't even need to know who it belonged to.

He dropped it to the ground and as I was picking myself up, I watched in horrid curiosity as a skeletal hand broke through the marble, white spiderweb cracks spreading rapidly through the ground.

 _Sparti. It was in page 86 of Monsters and How to Deal With Them. They hunt things that have their scent._

My eyes widened when a hand could be seen reaching for the silver cloth, immediately breaking into a sprint, I slid under the broken remains of the sofa and wrenched the silver cloth from the ground.

The Sparti did seem confused as to why it was holding a Demigod instead of whatever it was to acquire its scent from. I shivered slightly at the freezing cold touch of bone and tore myself from its grip and beginning a mad dash for one of the massive painted windows.

A stinging pain, unnoticed by me at the start, was resonating from my left hand; I stared at the afflicted part of my body and paled immediately, the entirety of my left hand was black, as if it had been charred black in a fire. I could see each and every vein inside protruding and were pulsating a dark red.

A blood-red.

It was a familiar feeling, yet completely different. Poison. I had felt tis before when a Dracanae bit me last year in a fight by the borders of Thalia's weakened tree.

I resisted the urge to throw up and wrenched Riptide out of the armory in a flash, waving it clumsily at the Sparti who jumped back gracefully in a way no skeleton should move, I threw the blade out of the window and warped to whatever place it would get me to, the pain in my hand becoming so unbearable I couldn't see straight.

Falling out of my phase, I ducked down into a roll and slammed my back against the top of a shuttle bus, Riptide clanging noisily on the roof beside me before shattering into crystalline shards. I pulled myself up immediately, hissing in pain as I clutched my left hand, the veins throbbing painfully as the blood vessels glowed a faint red.

I quickly slid down the side, passing open mouthed tourists as they pointed at me and started shouting (Probably about some weird kid doing parkour with dogs chasing him) when several Sparti leapt out of the broken window I ad exited from moments ago, there were a dozen of them, give or take; and they all glowed the same shade of red as my throbbing hand.

"Damnit!" I panted heavily as I bit the inside of my cheek to prevent me from crying out. "How the Hades arf thou'st chasing thine body?!" I tripped and crashed onto the roadside, cars stopping in front and beeping their horns repeatedly. The awfully familiar feeling of strangling fear was creeping into my throat as the Sparti climbed over the last shuttle bus.

"I am suffering!" I roared at the cars with their blinding white lights and loud horns "Leave thy afflicted soul alone!" I crawled to the walkway and let out a short guttural scream as the veins in my hand seemed to shatter as if they were being pierced by nails.

"Percy!" Thalia dropped her empty cup and rushed over to my fallen form. "Are you alright?!"

"Doth it appear as though I am alright to thee?!"

"I don't understand what you're saying!" She was starting to become hysterical with me as I let out another scream of pain, the Sparti were slowly marching over towards us, climbing over cars that didn't even register their existence.

"Move!" Bianca threw Thalia to the side and cradled my hand in her arm. "Don't worry, Perce, we'll get you a doctor..." She trailed off as the hand pulsed red and my arm spasmed when her skin made contact.

"Get thee gone! Thou'st a vacuous girl! Can'st thou not see thy danger?!" I snatched my hand away and pushed myself back as I pointed at the Sparti, the pain setting my mind into a blinding white overdrive that completely ruled out any fear with the will to live. I stared at the long leaf-bladed swords held in their hands as they seemed to waltz over to us, bones occasionally falling off and then instantly joining the body again "They approach!" Bianca seemed to notice the threat and she backed up instantly at the sight of the skeletons. She immediately grabbed my right arm and pulled me up as she half-carried, half-dragged my body to the van.

"Thalia! Hold them back!" The Sparti seemed to let out a low groan in unison, their red aura turning black as the pain in my hand slowly died down to a dull throb, but the hand itself still felt like it was on fire, I shut my eyes and tore at my leg with my other hand to attempt to dull the pain.

Thalia grunted and batted a large, rusty blade aside with her Aegis and jabbed forward, the Sparti broke down into a pile of ones that seemed to reform instantly on contact with the ground. "Damnit! They keep on coming back!" Her blue eyes were bright with worry and fear as she swung her spear in a large arc, several Sparti tanking the blow while others leaping back. They continued their slow dance as they skirted just outside the range of the daughter of Zeus' spear.

"Get in!" Phoebe threw open the door, her face ashen with worry as Bianca hurriedly loaded me inside the back and slammed the door shut. I let out a muffled scream of pain into the numerous packs laid on the floor as Zoë stared at me through the rear view, her eyes wide with shock.

"Perseus? What hath happened to thee?" Her words seemed to irritate me even further as I attempted to concentrate on the pain in my hand.

"For thy love of Hades' other tongue that doth lieth and manipulate! Silence!" She frowned at my odd switch to older language and turned back to me, just noticing the black hand that seemed to leech light out of the air.

"By Artemis-" She stared at the hand. "What hath warranted such pain for thee?" Bianca leapt through the side door, an unconscious Thalia carried y Phoebe was flung in beside her as said girl clambered through the window into the front seat.

"Go!" Zoë wasted no time, turning from me and taking one look at the monsters outside, she slammed the gas pedal and the van shot off. I gripped my hand as the extreme pain seemed to die down with every meter we put between us and the monsters.

"By the gods. What is that?" Phoebe didn't sound concerned at my wellbeing, nor did she sound loathing. Her voice was just neutral towards me for once, had this been in any better circumstances I would've made a joke.

"Poison. From Tartarus." I gasped out and told the three awake Hunters of the General, Luke and the Sparti in between labored breaths and hisses of pain whenever my veins pulsed a bright red, like a fire was raging inside them.

"We only have Nectar and Ambrosia." Zoë showed worry to me for the first time in my life. "If what thee sayeth 'tis true, then thy healing methods shalt not work on thee. Such is the poison oft primordials."

"Chiron." I placed my hand against the cool metal of the side of the van and hissed on the contact. "Chiron t'would know what to do." My occasional strange bouts of English were fading away as I slowly grew accustomed to the pain. Bianca looked down at me worriedly, gingerly holding my right hand as if it would explode. I would testimony that it'd probably happen.

"It's gonna be alright, Perce" I raised an unnoticed eyebrow at the nickname and stared at the girl, she seemed to be trying to convince herself too. "What if we hack off the afflicted limb? It worked in _The Walking Dead_ , right?" Even in the pain, I let out a weak chuckle.

"Sorry Miss Morbid, I'm not gonna be exploding into a zombie anytime soon." I could feel my rapid pulse calming as she rubbed soothing circles around the back of my hand.

Thalia bolted awake, her head bashing against the side window as she looked around frantically. "Skeletons! Percy!" She turned to me behind her so fast that I'd think that she'd suffer whiplash. I let out a half-smile as she paled at the sight of the blackened hand.

"Oh my-"

"Yeah, I know. Those three were the same." I chuckled as she glared at me, her face still ashen as she gently held my left hand; I shivered slightly at the feeling of her thumb tracing the protruding red veins that had oddly stopped throbbing.

"What the heck did you do this time, Mr Weakest?" I snorted at her jest, my mind still swimming from the aftershock of the pain to even register the usual insult which would send me packing. Fortunately, Bianca was there to explain what had happened-without the labored gasps for breath and hissing like a dying snake-

Thalia's eyes widened. "Luke was there?" I grunted in response, my right hand still enveloped in the cool, comforting touch of Bianca's as I held up my left hand, my vision slowly returning to its previous state.

"Yeah, I didn't hear much cause, y'know" I moved the fingers experimentally and winced when the exposed flesh connected at joints, the fingers didn't seemed o respond as I attempted to clutch something. "But they're hunting us down with Sparti to prevent us from reaching Artemis and... and Annabeth." I looked at Thalia, her gaze was cast down to her black boots as she fiddled with her skull charm. "We'll get her back. I promise." She looked at me, her eyes conveying silent thanks as the car pulled up, I ignored the increasing feeling of panic as I stared down at my hand and picked myself up from the mess of bags I had been thrown onto.

"Why are we stopping?"

"No gas."

Bianca leaned over to look out the window, her grip on my hand tightening as she swallowed. "Arizona. Phoenix, a desert." Zoë seemed to connect the dots as she let out a deep breath and stepped out, the heat immediately sweeping through the cool van as Phoebe followed suit.

"I'll be fine, Miss Morbid." She chuckled at the nickname and let go of my hand to slide out the window. Thalia passed by silently, her face devoid of expression. I pushed the door open gently and immediately retracted my left hand as the heat and sand stung the wound.

"Miss Morbid, huh? Sounds cute." Thalia drawled as she pulled me out of the van, I stared at her poker face and snickered slightly, her apathetic look changed quickly to an offended one. "What?"

"You" I wheezed as I buried my hand in the pocket, ignoring the stinging. "You look like a pinecone with that face and hair" To my surprise, instead of killing me, Thalia laughed alongside me as she slammed the door shut after gathering our bags.

"Whatever, Phasing fuck-boy" I gasped in mock horror as she threw my bag at me.

"Yeah, sure. Pinecone face."

"Storage shithead"

"Thunder Thighs"

"Warping Weirdo"

"Alliteration Asshole." We lapsed into a comfortable silence after we had finished laughing, I grinned at her, she seemed to be well after her nap compared to when we left camp, maybe she had a good dream, she did seem brighter and much more cheerful now as we avidly chatted about our powers while we were walking-Did you know she can fly?!

We had walked for what seemed to be hours, if the fading sunset was to mean anything and Zoë produced small pyramid-like objects in her bag and tossed them onto the ground, two tents sprung out from the discarded objects with camping gear neatly placed beside it.

"The night hath begun, we shalt not journey through the night for 'tis perilous." We all nodded in agreement and the three hunters set out to work, amazingly enough, they had already started a small stove and were boiling _ASTRONAUT BEANS_ in a small tub when I returned from pitching up my own tent given from the Hunt.

The meagre meal was somewhat decent, the beans were disgusting but the store-bought bread, cheese, tomatoes and chips made it better. It was made even better, when Phoebe told Zoë a joke and she let out a quiet laugh, the sound of her voice seemed to brighten the air before she shutdown into her emotionless Huntress persona.

I packed the now empty plates into a disposable bag and sat it down next to my tent, the three Hunters were already in their tent while mee and Thalia had volunteered to take first watch.

"I should pick up window cleaning as a side hobby-" I started, Thalia lazily kicked a pile of sand at me as I added a little more firewood to the stove, the small fire keeping us warm. The desert at night was actually a surprisingly cold place. "Wait! Lemme explain!" with the way I was acting with my injury masked up, it would be hard to see that I had been screaming in pain from poison hours ago. "So we got that Olympus newspaper and its headline-"She grinned at me, her blue eyes lighting up in mischief.

"Warping Weirdo Wipes Windows!" We finished in unison, grinning like fools. I heard Bianca snort quietly from inside her tent and Zoë sigh slightly as we high-fived each other. "What? It's a good one, isn't it?" Bianca groaned slightly and collapsed into her bed, as if she was saying _Get a life, losers_ "Killjoys." Thalia muttered as I snickered along with her.

We had lapsed into silence as the fire crackled and sent the occasional spark into the air which danced and seemed to attempt to reach the sky before fading away in the ground. Now was a good time to learn more about the daughter of Zeus, after all; I could be the one who was going to be killed off in this quest.

"Thalia." She hummed, lying back against a collapsible chair as she closed her eyes and relaxed. "Do you know... Anything about Annabeth?" She tensed slightly and relaxed as she sighed heavily.

"Yeah, I do." She muttered bitterly, watching the crescent moon disappear behind dark clouds. "She's been holding up some kind of cavern roof with Artemis." She gritted her teeth, the mention of their mistress seemed to have alerted Phoebe and Zoë, as they remained seated but all conversation inside died. Bianca inside her own tent shifted slightly closer to the entrance of the tent. "It was a dream," She hurriedly clarified at my questioning glance. "Right after the Smithsonian incident."

"Love how we're calling it an incident now." She didn't seem to catch my sarcasm as she nodded slowly, her spiky black hair flattened to the side slightly and her face glowed in the fading light.

"And I saw... I saw him, Luke. Earlier, back at camp." She clenched her fist in ager. "He... He tricked Annabeth into taking that massive roof for him." Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears as my eyes widened, why hadn't she told any of us this sooner? She must've been torturing herself with this knowledge everyday while we had been playing Capture the Flag or enjoying Dinner.

"Thalia... I... I didn't know-"She cut me off with a small snicker.

"Of course you wouldn't," She replied jokingly. "You've already got plenty of problems to worry about. But... Still, I can't believe I trusted the bastard for so long." I realised she was talking about her runaway days with Luke back before they had joined Camp.

"What-"She sat up next to me. "What was it like? Back then, I mean." I finished quietly, looking at her pale face being illuminated by the fading flames.

"IT..." She took a small breath. "It wasn't a good time, you know, running around, no place to call home... making small sheds to sleep in, being chased by mortal cops whenever we stole. And me and Luke-" She spat his name out like a vile curse. "Had to take care of Annie all the time..." a tear leaked out but she rubbed it out as fast as she could. "I thought-" Her voice cracked, " I thought, when I came back, maybe we'd be a big happy family again." She gazed off into the fire, all anger dissipating as her shoulders slumped and she let out a quiet snarl. I quickly moved over and embraced her, for minutes we sat like that, me muttering soothing words into her ears as she rocked gently in my arms.

We stayed in that position for what seemed to be hours, my comforting and soothing pats never stopping until she looked up, the anger quickly fading.

"So, what about you? Just told you my lifestory, tell me yours" She tried to give me a halfhearted glare as she brushed a lock of hair from her face. I frowned slightly and rolled my eyes; why not, anyway? I was going to die on this quest anyway, so at least I'd confide in the people I trusted my life with.

Now it was my turn to swallow thickly. "I'm nothing like you. Thals, My mom... She's the kindest woman you'll ever meet..." I gazed at the moon, thinking about her. "After I was born, she hid my scent by... By-" I cursed quietly. "By marrying this man. Called _Gabe_ " I hissed angrily, Thalia's eyes widened slightly as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Was that the one who Th-"

"Yes."

"Oh, gods." She paled as she stared up at me. "How... Bad was it?" I shuddered slightly, still refusing to remember the acts he had committed to both me and my mother."I... I... can't-" I whispered in her ear, a stray tear falling down as I tried my best to speak when one particular memory haunted me. "I'm trying to tell you, I really am. But... I'm not strong like you, I just... Can't." I wiped my face furiously as Thalia embraced me, her own tears of pity and sorrow dampening my shoulder.

"It's fine, Percy. You don't need to force yourself to recount such terrible things." Thalia rubbed my back soothingly. "Did He...?" I bit the inside of my cheek as I easily understood the question.

" _Yes."_ Thalia hugged me fiercely as I quietly sobbed into her shoulder, I thought I heard a sharp intake of breath from Phoebe and Zoë's tent but I disregarded it as the wind.

"It's fine, every thing's fine. He's gone now; you don't have to... _do that_ anymore." I nodded mutely as my appreciation for the girl shot up even further. "No more angsty stuff, y'know?" She let out a small grin against my shoulder.

"Why-" I quietened down so the others wouldn't hear after I had stopped forcing myself to remember. "Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?" She blinked once, then blinked again; and cocked her head to the side, silently prompting me to clarify. "Cause, don't you hate me at camp?" I fiddled with the torn hem of my shirt nervously as Thalia pulled back from her hug.

I didn't expect her to slap me, but she did. Hard. The sound seemed to shatter the uneasy silence hanging in the air as the sound echoed in the small cavern we were in. I blinked at her, the stinging sensation could be barely felt due to the ongoing mini-torture session on my hand right now.

"That, was for thinking that I hated you." Her eyes flashed dangerously as I shuffled back, and if I couldn't be shocked any further, she shuffled forward awkwardly and crushed me in a hug. "And this is to show that you're a great friend. You're not a nobody, remember that. You're my friend, and Theo's, and Grover's. And... And Annabeth's." She finished quietly, I smiled into her shoulder and shuddered into her embrace as the tears that I hadn't shed slid out.

"Didn't expect you to release the floodgates so soon again, P." She rubbed my back soothingly as her voice cracked with emotion. "But... I guess it's because we might die in a few days, yeah?" She sniffled slightly and buried her face into my neck. "I'm sorry. Percy. For watching you and not doing anything when you told yourself that you were nothing, or that no-one loved you. I'm sorry. P, I really am." She gripped the back of my shoulder tightly as her voice broke off with raw emotion as I felt my own shoulder growing damp again.

"Goddamnit." I chuckled, my vision blurry from tears, "The hunters probably think we're some weirdos, right?" She let out a watery chuckle and breathed deeply into my shoulder. I continued patting her on the back as I continued. "You don't know how long I waited for someone to say that. I know it isn't much, but it still makes me happy knowing that at least some-" I bit my trembling lip. "at least _some_ people care, right? Just... Let me be selfish for now and enjoy the fact. Please."

That was the first time I've ever seen Thalia Grace cry in public.

"I waited so long. Honestly, the years at camp were getting longer." I smiled affectionately as I I kissed her forehead, she continued to sniffle in my arms.

"Goddamnit." She stuttered as she grabbed fistfuls of my shirt and buried her head in my shirt. "Why the hell am I being so emotional?" I smiled sadly down at her.

"It's simple; you've been bearing this burden for such a long time without anyone to talk to. Come on, just let it all out."

"And what have you done to the cowardly Percy? You're so emotional and empathetic now. I'd prefer your last version." Thalia let out a watery chuckle at her own joke.

"Don't worry, I'm still the weak, cowardly, disgusting waste of flesh everyone knows me as." She glared at me and punched me gently. "I just can't be weak when you need someone strong." I recited to her wide eyes. "Mom's words. Not mine." I flushed in embarrassment as she laughed, a quiet melodious sound that settled my nerves. "You can tell me anything anytime. I'll always be there to listen."

And she did, for the remainder of the two hours we spent talking about her life before camp, giggling hysterically whenever she mentioned how Annabeth had begged her to steal a blueberry muffin and how she had plans to build a new building greater than the Empire state building.

The tears and sadness were long gone by the time we went to sleep, Thalia was still laughing from my description of Yancy Academy's Nancy Bobofit, also commonly known as Boba Fett due to her personality and second name as the moon slowly faded into the horizon.

"-And so, We dropped the ketchup _on her head!_ " We dissolved into giggles as Thalia rolled on the ground, the fire had long since faded and we were settling ourselves into bed. I had chosen to take my bed outdoors and place it next to the makeshift bed Thalia had made from blankets 'borrowed' from the sleeping Bianca (I didn't dare go in due to the threat of me not coming out for the rest of the night due to the sight of her sleeping face)

"You know, we really should sleep." I chuckled to Thalia, both of our eyes were still bloodshot as she rolled in her bed.

"I know, I know. Goodnight, Boxboy"

"Goodnight, Sparky"

I closed my eyes and thought about the events in the past day, _so this is what it's like to be on a quest._ I smiled softly and enjoyed the peaceful tranquillity, what would tomorrow bring? It would be hard, this quest; but I was in high spirits after letting someone else know about my insecurities and problems and learning about theirs, it created a bond of trust that not even years f friendship could accomplish..

"Wait! I never told you about the time we went to the water fountain!" Thalia sat up, grinning madly like a fool, she brushed the sand from her trousers and sat next to me, covering herself in blankets..

"Eh, Sleep is overrated anyways." I grinned down at the girl with her bloodshot eyes and leaking mascara, there could be no-one in the world who could be a better friend to me than this slightly-crazy daughter of Zeus.

 _I feel like I've actually made a proper friend for once._

 _Percy:1, World:0_

 **Here you lot go, spent a long time thinking this one up- And all those Bianca shippers (6 of you, in fact) get what you wanted and the relationship between Percy and Thalia is strengthened! (Insert Persona 5 'The Spirit'.mp3)**

 **Gave Thals a bit more fleshing, gave Bianca a personality and Nico already looks at P like a brother! ( )**

 **I have questions relating to the pairing of this series and I'm kinda kerblooey about it too, get it? Me neither. So far it could potentially be:**

 **Percy and Thals**

 **Percy and Zoë**

 **Percy and Bianca**

 **Who knows, the wind shall fly as it sees fit; but I'm molding Thalia in a more sisterly kind of figure and am gravitating to PerZoë/Percianca (Are those the ship names?) But who knows.**

 **I am tired as hell, but exams are over. Will start updating soon.**

 **Reviews will be answered next week. Sleep tight, don't let the horrible being that sleeps underneath your bed and makes you paranoid whenever you hang your leg over the side bite.**

 **Am I just being paranoid and just awkward in general? Yes.**

 **G'night. Corrections and grammar shall be fixed tomorrow morning, any major changes will be posted down below.**

 **27/05/2018 2:57 AM**

 **Posted the goddamn chapter. LEMME SLEEP**


	7. Am I

I knew it was a dream, because last time I checked, I wasn't in a paper plate party with massive entities.

The General was kneeling by a massive golden sarcophagus with depictions of bulls trampling people to death while a massive figure was pulled in his chariot. The pictures of death didn't really correspond with the confetti hanging over the ceiling with discarded party poppers and broken tables.

"My lord, our spy in Olympus arrives." He muttered quietly as the massive _HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE_ banner over the wall was torn in two. I figured Mike wouldn't be so happy about that action.

"My lord." The next voice was a calmer, soothing voice compared to the General as he kneeled behind them. "I bring news." The coffin seemed to glow slightly and his features were lit up.

The man wore a plastic paper plate, the kind you'd get from Wal-Mart and two small slits could be see for his eyes which glowed a dark green as he stared at the floor, his dark hair was short and spiky like Thalia's and he wore a simple Greek tunic.

"This-"I blinked in surprise at the familiarity of the voice that resonated through the room. "Is what you call a disguise?" It barely concealed rage as the man faltered.

"I was ill-equipped for the summons, and for mortal observers, this mask seems to fool them." I stared at the party hats embroidered on the plate sides.

"Very well. It seems to have worked, seeing as no mortals have entered screaming." The disembodied spoke up. "What is this news?" The man seemed to bow lower.

"The quest members are starting to journey through the Junkyard of the Gods while the Gods themselves have strained relationships due to the past... Occurrences. Luke from the Princess Andromeda sends his regards. His army is positioned at the base of Mount Orthrys for the Demigods to intercept."

The body chuckled; the sound of nails on blackboard filled the room as the sarcophagus rumbled slightly. "Very good. Is there anything else?" The man faltered, his face looked up the golden coffin.

"Forgive my rudeness, but have you seen to the matte-"The General, previously silent, snorted at the man and stood up.

"Our Master already has planted the seeds into the boy's mind before this entire ordeal started." The General chuckled. "You'll have your son. Rest assured."

"Yes. That is correct, do not worry. He is practically yours after he plays his role. Return to your post on Mount Orthrys, _Pistinemo_ "

The man nodded and his body glowed a dark, murky green and his ethereal body zipped out of the doors, leaving a green trail that soon dispersed into nothingness.

"It is easy to channel his hatred; he and children all have the same weakness, after all. They just need a little... Urge." The General muttered as he stood by the coffin.

"Of course, my General. Do not forget what you have to do in Orthrys, delay the quest with your Sparti. Luke will be there too. Do not fail me, Atlas, deal with the traitorous girl of yours" The General, or the Titan Atlas, nodded and walked briskly out the room, his large footfalls making the ground shake as multi-colored confetti fell and draped themselves over the coffin.

The doors shut with a quiet click and I frowned, weren't dreams supposed to end here when all the useful information had been spoken? I froze slightly when the lid seemed to inch to the side, a bottomless pit below.

"Yes. Come, closer boy." I didn't even register the fact that the being inside had seen me as my body seemed to drift closer. "I can give you everything you want, power? Fame? The girls you quest with?" Images of the other quest members seemed to float into view from the tiny crack as my unwilling body leaned down to look inside. "Or is it friends? I have plenty for you to meet." The tone had gone softer, kinder. Persuasive. "All you have to do is answer the call when the time is right. False Olympians cannot stop you. They fear your power."

The images were torn to shreds as a small golden ring seemed to float from inside and out of the coffin.

"You have your place where you store Godly armaments, yes?" The voice chuckled, the golden sarcophagus lighting the pitch black room momentarily as it basked in the moonlight, the broken roof above shining a perfect spotlight. "Take this. I have no control of what should happen to it when I part with it. It is a pair of weapons that shall help you in our cause." The ring shattered into tiny crystals which gathered in my spiritual palm. "I have no control over what happens. I cannot even take this back for it is empowered with something other than my creation." It whispered. "Call this a sign of trust."

 _What trust? What for? Who are you?_ I wanted to ask so many questions yet my voice wouldn't work as I held the shattered crystals gingerly in my palm.

It was strange, they glowed _black_ , unlike the crystalline shards formed by my other weapons. I shuddered slightly at the feeling of them as they slowly seeped into my body. They felt... Powerful. _Ancient._

"It is imbued with the darkened thoughts of an abandoned God, remind yourself of what you fight for when you use this." The voice crooned, the lid snapping closed as my body seemed to float out the broken roof. "Leave. You have everything here, no?" The voice turned mocking, cruel, almost. Nothing like the sweet and surprisingly warm tone it had used when I was so close to it.

The vision before me turned black and white and seemed to fade away at the corners of my vision and kept fading until I was left floating in the darkness.

-Linebreak

I awoke to a sharp pain in my left arm; we hadn't slept for long- a couple of hours while Zoë and Phoebe took watch. I shuffled slightly from my position, my bleary eyes registering the lieutenant's back and blinked to clear my vision as I quietly rose from the mound of blankets I had brought out of my tent. She stood, perched on a rock while she was fingering her bow while she and Phoebe conversed quietly, for once; in English.

"You know about that, don't you?" Phoebe jabbed a finger in my supposedly sleeping form. "Don't you?" Zoë sighed slightly and her grip on the bow tightened.

"Yes. T'was a long time, something that Orpheus happened upon from the Underworld." She grumbled, as if remembering the hero was a chore for her.

Phoebe lowered her voice as she peered out the entrance with the girl. "You do know that there isn't much time left." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Zoë clicked her tongue disapprovingly and turned round from her position.

"Wake them up; wasting time shalt not rescue thy lady." I shut my eyes and pretended to sleep, the stinging sensation pulsing like a heartbeat repeatedly causing my left arm bother.

"Wake up!" Phoebe threw a small pebble at my face. I blinked, pretending to just wake up as she set a small platter down beside me. Hunt provisions, I remembered eating them in training and let out a pained smile of thanks to the girl, she took one look at me and grunted, turning back to her own meal.

I sat up and stretched, my blanket falling over my shoulders and I almost had a heart attack at what I saw. My entire forearm looked like my left hand while small tendrils of black liquid seemed to have crept inside the veins at the edges of the affliction, spiderwebbing across the circumference like torn weaving.

" _Di Immortales,_ " I swore as I stared at the arm. "Has it spread?" I flexed my fingers experimentally as they seemed to slowly respond, like an aged machine whirring back to life. I gritted my teeth and ignored the sharp needle-like stabs and continued to attempt to return any feeling inside them.

"Perseus." Zoë's stern voice shook me out of my stupor. "Doing such actions could'th harm thee. Stop." I hastily obliged as she returned to her standing position on the rock. Was it me, or did she seem kinder this morning? Her tone seemed to no longer hold the harshness it usually had.

I hastily buried the arm under the blankets as Thalia and Bianca crawled out their tent, their eyes blinking at the harsh sunlight.

"Mornin'" Bianca's disgruntled speech made me smile slightly. She looked around and frowned at my awkward attempt to eat with one arm - peeling a boiled egg with one hand was actually pretty hard- and turned to her meal and wrinkled her nose. "Bleugh, Space Beans." She looked enviously at my sweetcorn, egg and slightly stale bread. "Can I have what you're having?" Phoebe snickered quietly as she munched on her own slice.

"Hunt's rations, you do realise that was what you had while we ate Space Beans last night?" Bianca's face fell. "Oh come on," Her tough facade seemed to break momentarily as she handled her pot to the girl who happily accepted it and began inhaling the food. Phoebe smiled slightly and quite literally emptied the rest of her chickpeas into the sandwich.

I decided to follow the example and passed mine to Thalia, who grumbled as she peeled the can open with a half-asleep expression. Pushing the pain into the back of my mind, I frowned at the two oldest Hunters and asked the question everyone had on their mind.

"Where are we to next?" Zoë contemplated the question and pointed outwards towards what seemed to be a small ruined city.

"The God's Junkyard. It is the fastest way through towards-"

"Mount Orthrys," I finished, she blinked in surprise, her Persian princess features seemed to glow in the bright sun that shone through the cavern mouth. "Demigod dream," I hastily finished, for the remainder of the small meal- I told them of my dream, leaving out the plastic plate man and the conversation afterwards.

"I don't like the sound of this person." Bianca finished smartly, "Only the bad guys offer stuff like that, trust me- all the films I got for Nico were like that."

"Were they PG?" I raised an eyebrow and stared at the girl, her bedhead did make her look quite cute.

"Of course not!" She looked scandalised. "Nico can't be allowed to watch that stuff, being 10 years old!" I blinked; I had thought Nico had been twelve... Then what age was Bianca?

"14, doofus." She snickered at my expression as I rolled my eyes at her. "What age is everyone here anyway? Might as well get to know each other seeing how..." Her originally joking tone trailed off awkwardly as the conversation fell silent.

"I'm fourteen, but I technically should be-what, sixteen? Seventeen? I've been a tree too long." Thalia rolled her eyes as she kicked my leg. "What bout you, P?" I rolled my eyes and gently kicked her back, might as well humor them.

"Fourteen, obviously. I wouldn't be here if I was any younger than twelve, otherwise I'd be watching things like _Ted_ or _Deadpool_ with Nico." I grinned at the look on Bianca's face.

"Percy!"

"I'm uh..." Phoebe started, instantly stopping any chances of a new argument. "What, one thousand five hundred and six? Pretty sure my birthday's in two weeks." Thalia snickered.

"Happy Birthday in two weeks then." Phoebe blinked at her sarcasm and frowned, her chickpeas hovering centimetres from her mouth as she frowned at the daughter of Zeus.

"What do you-"

"Well seeing as how two of us are going to die, might as well." I winced at the bluntness and tried not to look at Bianca's hurt face as Thalia munched quietly on my sweetcorn.

"Thalia, I don't think that-" Zoë cut me off, her eyes flashing with something, was that guilt?

"I turn two thousand in two days, on the Winter Solstice." The unspoken message seemed to worsen the atmosphere as we sat in silence, I stepped on Thalia's foot and gave her a cross look as she shrugged, returning to her Space Beans.

"Any birthday presents you have in mind?" I tried to break the awkward silence with a small joke. "That is, if I survive, of course." Her eyes flickered to my arm slightly and she let out a tight lipped smile, my pain momentarily forgotten at the sight of the smile.

"Aye, T'would wanteth coffee, for beginnings; then a roast meal with thy sisters." She sighed as Phoebe smirked slightly as she wiped her lips with a small napkin.

"Like the time in Epirus on your thousandth?" She smiled at the unspoken joke as she rolled her eyes.

"Aye, like the time in Epirus." The chat faded into silence, a comfortable one that I was proud of making, once the very last breadcrumb had disappeared I stood up, drawing glances from the other quest members.

That conversation turned dark real quick.

"Well, might as well get packed up since we're done. Wasting time won't save Lady Artemis!" Thalia grinned at my attempt at humor and stood up, threw the empty can in the bag beside my tent and then returned to her tent and started dismantling it, peg by peg.

"Wait! Wait!" Bianca hastily shoved a forkful of sweetcorn in her mouth and rushed towards the daughter of Zeus. "I didn't finish!" I smiled at the interaction as they seemed to argue over how to pack the pegs as Phoebe snorted, her eyes filled with humor.

I tried to ignore the somewhat anxious glances sent in the direction of my arm from Zoë and the continuous pangs that signalled the infection slowly growing. Kneeling down on the sand, I snuck a quick glance at the arm.

She approached me as Phoebe finished up packing her tent and crouched beside my form as I stared at the dissolving tent, "Perseus." I met her cold gaze and raised an eyebrow in question. She was definitely being nicer today. "Do not worry, 'tis naught but a small wound." She gestured to my left arm. "If thy memory serves thee correctly, I knew of a dragon that possesseth similar poison." She tried to assure me as she stood back up and turned to help the other two pack their tent back into the tiny prism.

I didn't feel assured, the pain had subsided but the sight of the poison slowly spreading through my frail body was enough to cause me nausea. Watching the small crystals siphon back into me, I couldn't help but wonder just how long I had to live.

 _A day? A Week? If it spread from my hand to my forearm in the space of one night, then..._

"Come on! Let's go!" Phoebe had wrapped a silver scarf around her mouth to block out the sand being blown into her eyes and the other two Hunters followed suit. I blinked and looked at Zoë, didn't I have the scarf she was wearing? I fingered the cloth in my pocket, her tiara still inside.

 _Oh, the tiara, I really should give her it,_ I had the intention to do so right there and then, but Phoebe's voice called out from the cavern entrance.

"Come on! This stupid Junkyard isn't going to be walked through itself!" She sounded extra motivated, as if she was keen to get this over and done with.

"Yeah!" Bianca let out a nervous cheer then faltered. "Wait, that doesn't make sense."

"Details, newbie. Details." Phoebe waved a hand dismissively and leapt out, carefully navigating her way through the formations of rocks that concealed the entrance, Zoë following closely behind.

Thalia muttered something about 'Stupid Hunters' and climbed out, albeit lacking the precision and grace Zoë seemed to have as we exited the cave. Bianca looked excited, and terrified. If that wasn't the worst combination to go with before a battle then I don't know what is.

"To victory!" She let out an innocent laugh and slid over the rocks, her hands betraying her fear as they nervously played with the bowstring of the _STANDARD ISSUE HUNTER BOW_ (The words _were_ engraved on the front for the world to see). I took one last look at the cave inside before chewing my lip nervously as I followed the girls out.

 _Maybe this is the last time I'll ever sleep, except for when I'm dead._ I grinned at the weak joke and poked my head out of the rocks to instantly gag at a mouthful of sand the moment I pulled myself over the rock formation.

"What the-"I sputtered, seeing Thalia's amused expression and Bianca's somewhat guilty one as they wrapped their own individual pieces of cloth around their mouths. I had half the temptation to take out Zoë's scarf, but I decided dying later was much more favourable to dying now.

"If it adds any incentive, this is a good opportunity to keep him silent." Phoebe's advice was not helpful. N-O. Nope.

"Oh, shut up." Thalia rolled her eyes and sent a half-pitying, half-amused look at me. "Rather his voice than yours."

"-And to think oft thy attempts to recruit thee into thy Hunters." Zoë muttered, her voice almost carried away by the winds. Thalia snorted and kicked sand at the lieutenant-which she gracefully dodged, and continued on towards the looming towers of rusted junk.

Yeah, real good chemistry.

\- Linebreak

"Hey! Look! It's a guitar!" I hollered from amidst a scrap pile as I held up said item in the air. "You think it came from Apollo?" Thalia grinned as she threw a small metal shield and laughed in delight as it arced straight back into her hand.

"I'm Captain 'Merica!" She snickered as she played with the shield as we walked throughout the junkyard, the afternoon sun glaring harshly down on my pale skin as I dropped the items when Zoë shot a nasty glare at me.

"Put them down, now!" Zoë snapped, "Tis the Junkyard of the Gods, t'would not be godly without such armaments protecting it." She gripped her bow tightly as her eyes scanned the field cautiously. The other two Hunters was by her side as they notched arrows whenever something creaked.

"You're paranoid." I picked up a small figurine discarded on the ground as a particularly harsh wind blew through the Junkyard, eerie sounds of snapping metal and ominous creaking of objects rolling down the massive towers of rust and junk. "Hey, look at this, Bianca! It's one of those figurines that Nico plays with!" Bianca let out a small uneasy smile at the sight of the figurine and hopped over a disfigured metal panda.

"Hey! Percy! Check this out!" Thalia's muffled voice came from a mound of scrap, Zoë sighed and cursed in Ancient Greek as I hurriedly bounded over, the figurine clasped in my hands. "Look at this sword!" Thalia pointed to half-buried sword in the sand, a rusted bronze arm clenching it. "Damn, it's massive." She whistled, I had to admit, she was right.

The blade was at least twice as long as my own Blade of the Hearth, and probably was twice as heavy too.

"Think you can lift it?" I rolled my eyes and took one look at the massive handle, it'd take five Beckendorfs to lift this.

"Hell nope." I took a step back as the junk pile shifted slightly. "Uh... Thalia? Maybe we shouldn't get too close..." I took another step back as small red light could be seen underneath, flashing repeatedly.

"It's just a piece of scrap, don't worry." Thalia snickered and waved her hand dismissively at me as she picked up what seemed to be a half-melted watch. "Huh, looks like the shield Theo has-" She tried pressing a few buttons, oblivious to the shifting sands behind her.

"Thalia. Get back." I stumbled back and almost tripped over bronze wire as the metal arm _moved_. "Thalia!" She looked back at me with an irritated expression.

"What?" The fear on my face must have been easily noticeable as she paled and dropped the tiny watch. "There's something behind me, isn't there?" The Hunters appeared in a flash, leaping over metal junk and refrigerators.

"What the-"

"Talos!" Phoebe and Zoë both stared incredulously at what seemed to be a giant hunk of metal that grew every second.

"No, it's too small, it must be a prototype."

"That's _too_ small?!" The giant mechanism blocked the sun as its shadow loomed over us.

"You know-" My voice seemed tiny as I stared at the crudely drawn smiley face on it's head light up an ominous red. "Whenever you see a massive monolithic being of destruction, I think the usual response to run..." The giant Talos raised it's sword threateningly. _"Run!_ "

The others didn't need to be told twice, scrambling over the sand dune, I bolted after them, Thalia hot on our heels. The Talos let out a horrible sound of screeching metal and brought its massive greatsword into the ground, sending a pillar of sand into the air.

 _GwaHaHaHa_ It's mouth opened to let out a noise somewhat similar to a laugh. _GwaHaHaHa._

"What the hell is this thing doing here?!" I stopped Bianca from tripping over the metal panda as we navigated the maze of trash, I took one quick glance behind me and froze at the sight of the Talos slowly bringing the blade down. " _Duck!_ " The blade sailed harmlessly over our heads as we stood back up and continued running.

" _It's a big ass machine and it's trying to kill me! That's what it is!_ " Thalia stumbled past us, her skin crackling with electricity. I helped Bianca up and shoved her away from the descending balde's path.

 _BOOM_. I shielded my arms from the debris as small shattered bits of metal and sand rained down on me, looking around- I noticed to my utter horror at the injury in Bianca's ankle, a small shard of metal stuck inside as she was being half-dragged by the other Hunters. Eyeing the mountain of scrap metal beside me and a quick glance to the Talos-who accidently snapped an arm when trying to take the blade out of the earth and was applying first aid? Robot aid? A very stupid idea formed in my head.

One so stupid I'd claim the crown from Theo as Seaweed Brain.

"Zoë!" I fished into my pocket and wrenched out the tiara I had kept for safekeeping ever since the incident on Apollo's bus. She turned momentarily and blinked at me as the tiara sailed through the air and conked an unconscious Bianca on the head, I winced slightly. _Sorry, B,_ and gestured to the mountain of metal. "I'll meet you at San Fransisco! Thalia knows where Annabeth's parents live!"

" _I do?!"_

" _Yes. You do! Now hurry!"_ I didn't allow anyone to say anything about stopping my slightly suicidal plan as I warped towards the structure and hacked at the metal supports holding the small building up, Riptide sending sparks flying into the air as he rusted bolt snapped.

" _Don't die!"_ Zoë's voice was slightly muffled behind the mound of scrap, I snickered quietly and turned to face the giant, its massive metal arm fixed as sit seemed to flex it proudly.

I ignored the horrific sound of bending metal and focused on the giant, its swings were slow and I was able to dodge its attacks with relative ease, but as I stared up at the bronze giant and searched around my bare surroundings for anything to use, I slowly realised something.

 _This was a pretty bad plan._ I watched the blade come at me with a horizontal arc and I hit the ground, the chipped blade passing by harmlessly and toppled down a mound of refrigerators. I raised my blade to parry the fist it sent in my way and almost dislocated my shoulder at the jarring force the impact sent through my body.

Fighting in a sand dune wasn't the greatest, where the sand was hard to run in, and thee heat from the sun made every action ten times more taxing than usual.

Running forward while the statue was recovering, I dragged my tired legs across the sand dune, my body screaming at me to stop as I drew a long gash along the Talos' ankle, it let out a grunt and immediately swept down with a hand and batted me to the side.

 _Dear gods, why the hell am I so unfit?_ I gasped for breath and rolled to the side to avoid a metal pole from impaling me, I coughed violently as sand that was sent flying from the impact clouded my vision and stumbled back, away from the Talos' range.

Reforming Riptide for the last time, I collapsed onto my backside as my knees gave out beneath me, feeling the scorching sand and the heat that slowly drained away my strength, I ignored the loud pain echoing from my left arm from the applied pressure and held up the sword tiredly, apart from the gash along its ankle which was dripping machine oil, the death machine looked perfectly fine.

I stared at it rear its sword over its head to deliver the killing blow, its head reared back as if it was laughing; I probably didn't even have the strength to move anymore anyway.

The statue swung an my mind- on its final burst of adrenaline, raised my sword to block the oncoming greatsword, the blade's flat crashed into my left side and I couldn't even cry in pain as I felt something in my chest snap.

I sailed through the air, ragdolling like a broken paper aeroplane and landed in the Talos' outstretched palm, its fingers closed around instantly, trapping me as I stared down at the falling Riptide before it shattered into crystals.

 _So. This is it?_ I stared at the unfeeling red eyes of Talos as its smiley face seemed to light up a brighter red as it slowly crushed me. _On the bright hand side, I don't need to buy a present for Zoë or Phoebe._

 _Percy._

I blinked heavily as darkness seemed to cloud my vision, the grip that Talos had was slowly suffocating me. _Stay awake, Percy._ That voice... It sounded familiar. _Don't die yet._ It was a female voice, one that belonged to... to...

 _Stay awake. Do not give in. I hath hope._

The pain in my left arm seemed to go numb, and the feeling of suffocation in my chest slowly faded away.

 _Tis always such a way, else there naught?_

The voice sounded teasing; I wanted to reach out to the figure that seemed to float in my vision, floating atop the head of the massive machine. Her facial features were missing, as if she was a clean blank slate, but my mind easily filled in the blanks, the high-cheekbones, the regal look and the black eyes.

 _Thou'st can be strong_

She held out a hand, as if she was beckoning me over.

 _T'would be most satisfactory-_ she floated over, her ethereal hands patted my cheeks in a loving manner as I stared into her ghostly black eyes, she smiled affectionately as she leaned in closer and pressed her lips to my forehead. _If thou'st would awaken thy heirdom_ As fast as she had come, she was gone, her ethereal form dispersing into particles of light as the wind carried the image away.

I took a look at my chest, it no longer looked damaged, in fact, I wasn't even suffering anymore. All fatigue had just seemed to evaporate in the heat. Talos was still slowly crushing me in the heat, and my odds of surviving were still slim.

Something within me shattered, like a biscuit being crushed in my hands as-no kidding- my entire body seemed to glow blue. Talos let go of me and tilted its head, as if it was confused because previously I had a broken ribcage and had been half-dead moments ago.

My vision went hazy, the blue glow surrounding my body as weapons... Heraldic Arms... started forming around me, instead of plummeting to the ground, I remained in the sky; floating with my weapons circling me protectively like a guard.

Not much could be remembered after that, except for flashes of blue and black as explosions echoed throughout the junkyard as thousands of tonnes of metal was brought to its knees, my body darting round the battlefield, streaking the air with flashes of blue.

I stared silently at the unmoving body, panting heavily as the glow disappeared and my vision returned to its original form, tasting the acidity in the air and slowly floating down onto the ground, the blue aura fading from my body as an overwhelming feeling of fatigue swept through me. Taking in a breath and collapsing onto the ground face-first in the oily sand, seeing the sun shining down on me as I lay on the scorching desert and I let out a small chuckle. The chuckle turned to an uncontrollable giggle until it exploded into laughter. I raised my right hand up to the sky and stared at it, blood caked fingernails, oil dripping down it as patches of torn skin glowed bright red in the sun.

Nothing mattered except for the fact I was alive. I let out a small raspy laugh and celebrated quietly to myself as I continued laying there, my eyes slowly drooping.

 _Well, that sucked._

I spent the next few hours drifting in and out of an unconscious sleep, distinctly remembering the smell of the one perfume that the Aphrodite cabin would use at all times, the sound of a soft motor, purring like a cat, and the feeling of a leather seat as I was unceremoniously deposited inside the vehicle.

I deduced that either I had been picked up by someone rich in the Junkyard and was currently going to lead a life as a slave, or that Zoë hadn't forgotten to pick me up.

"Oh, you're awake." That definitely wasn't Zoë, I turned my head slightly to face the woman who had spoke and quite literally forgot how to breathe. There sat a woman who radiated so much _beauty_ , I couldn't even begin to describe it; anything that you could think of-this woman had it. "Hello, my dear Perseus; my name's Aphrodite." Her facial features flickered between looking like a splitting image of Zoë to looking eerily similar to Bianca.

"You're probably wondering why you're here, are you not? I was actually sent by my husband to check up on Odysseus' little to- Never mind that, what matters is that you're here!" She frowned. "Close your mouth, my dear. Can't have you catching flies." She brushed some invisible dust off the seat beside her. "Come, sit by me and have a chat." Something compelled me to follow her words, to obey each and every single one as I sat myself up and looked at her.

"W-Why?" My voice was still hoarse from the heat outside, although the limousine-I guessed that was what it was due to the abnormally large interior- had air-conditioning, my throat was still dry and raspy.

"Oh no. We can't have you saving my dear Arty while you're in such a condition." She frowned and snapped her fingers, a large litre bottle of water appearing beside us with a small plastic cup. "Help yourself."

"You might have not noticed, but I had to change your clothes; we couldn't have you dirtying the interior, of course." I looked down from my cup and blinked, sure enough; my half-melted shoes had been replaced by black formal dress shoes that seemed to fit better than anything I'd worn in my life- and now that I looked at myself, I could see that Aphrodite had dressed me up in a completely black suit - bar the jacket. "I've made some changes to that Parka you were given too, horrible thing; but I know you have a secret liking to it," She winked at me and gave me a sly smile. I did at least have the decency to blush. "But I can't have you looking like one of those loveless Hunters Arty leads, so here!"

Aphrodite snapped her fingers, a silver suit jacket-still missing its left sleeve, to my relief, although it looked a lot more intentional and all the lingering patchwork and dangling threads had been removed- dropped into her arms with a small _pop_. She held it out, as if she was admiring her own work and I couldn't help but agree.

"Here-" She smirked at my amazed expression, "It's still nothing special, only enchantments it holds is a weak, almost unnoticeable enchantment from Arty." She passed it over to me; the material still felt the same. "It'll not stop any killer blows or anything, but at least you'll die with a good fashion sense." She shrugged indifferently, as if my death was something insignificant to her.

"I thank thee, my lady." I set down my cup on the small table beside our seats and stood up, my feet clacking on the floor as I knelt to the Goddess. "Thine kindness knows no bounds."

"It really doesn't." The driver spoke up, his eyes flickering towards me in the rearview mirror and I almost recoiled at the sight of them, his eyes resembled nuclear explosions, and he too was dressed up in a similar fashion, although he sported a black leather jacket that would've made Thalia jealous, with all of its chains and studs.

"I thank thee too, Lord Ares." I bowed my head as he grunted before returning his attention to the roads flying by. "For picking such a frail demigod out of thy kindness." He smirked, momentarily turning to Aphrodite.

"Kid knows his manners, you sure you don't wanna keep him?" He joked, Aphrodite let out a laugh-a laugh that sounded awfully like Zoë's and patted the war god's cheek.

"Now now, my dear; Percy here has a very complicated situation with two girls right now." Ares chuckled and turned back to the wheel.

"Ah, to be young." He laughed boisterously as Aphrodite let out a serene smile.

"I'm sure you know that I didn't pick you up just so I could dress you." I nodded, not moving from my position. "Oh for the love of Zeus, stand up and sit next to me, I'd rather not speak to the top of your head."

"What hath thee requested for?" She rolled her eyes and conjured a large ornate mirror.

"Here, hold this- and did anyone tell you that your Old English is just truly adorable? Your mother taught you well." I held the mirror in position as she dabbed her eyebrows with a cotton cloth that had appeared in a small pink cloud. "Not many people think to be so polite nowadays, should've seen the son of Poseidon two years ago! Blasting into the throne room screaming his head off. It was rather fun." She giggled before clapping her hands, a small white brush appearing in her hand while she curled her delicate eyebrows.

"So I saved your life, provided you with new clothes and cleaned you, fed you and transported you." She listed as the mirror vanished in a puff of smoke. "So how can you repay me?"

"Name thy request, and thou shalt receiveth." I stared at my shoes, unworthy of even looking up at the goddess' face.

"Oh dear, if I was anyone else, I would've been charmed." Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Many people would take advantage of that kindness; you're too young, though. Only fourteen, yes?" I nodded, completely oblivious to the innuendo. "Anything I think of requires you to be older." She sighed, as if her favourite birthday present had been stepped on. "So I think I'll just hold onto this favour for later, hm?" I nodded.

"Very well, I shalt giveth any request for when thy age 'tis older."

"Hades, I didn't ask you to sit next to me to stare at the shoes." She changed the subject entirely, as if conversation with me bored her-it probably did, to be honest- and grabbed me by the black tie that hung from my neck. "Look at me, Perseus." Her voice was laced with something powerful, as if I couldn't deny her orders. I shivered involuntarily at the close proximity, her eyes changing from volcanic black to a shade of dark brown.

She chuckled at my flustered expression and let go, straightening my tie and brushing crinkles from my shirt; she turned her attention to the outside world. "Oh dear, as fun as it would be to play around with you; I'm afraid our time is up." She sighed as the limousine stopped, taking that as my signal to climb out, I opened the door and started to leave when she caught me by the arm.

"Perseus. Beware of the Hesperides on Mount Orthrys, they are cunning, and they'll stand in my plans for your love life." She looked down at my arm and bit her lip when I winced at the contact, my left arm was still pulsing red, and the pain had been gradually increasing throughout our conversation, although I didn't dare to interrupt. "I wish I could do something to that, but I really couldn't." She patted my arm and smiled. "Get going, Perseus; I'll see you at the Winter Solstice, if you survive." The door shut behind me just as the driver's door opened and the war god climbed out.

"Lord Ares." I kneeled to the war god, he was a lot taller than I had thought- towering over me in an impressive 6'5, I felt tiny as his large hands grasped my shoulders.

"You've got spunk, kid, and you show respect too; not a bad combination." He slammed a large European ornate longsword into the ground beside me and clapped me on the shoulder. "I like you, and my lady does too, so don't go dying on me in this quest from whatever, alright?" I nodded as he placed the litre bottle next to me. "Get going, kid. See you around." I remained in my kneeling posture until the god of war had climbed into the vehicle and driven off, the faint sound of the motor fading with the wind.

Picking up the litre bottle, I watched as the longsword shattered into crystals and flowed into me, leaving an ethereal glow before fading away into nothingness. _That's four weapons of the gods._ I pulled out the longsword, feeling it's weight and wondering how come the gods knew how to get me a perfectly balanced weapon as I headed towards the large building I had been dropped off at.

Squinting against the early evening sun, I stared at the massive house before me and the large metal plague on the gate before me:

 _Frederick Chase_

Another note was plastered underneath, hastily scribbled and taped to the metal:

 _If you're delivering my aeroplanes, please ring the doorbell and wait for response._

Pushing open the gate, I couldn't help but feel relieved at the sight of a familiar parka, strung out to dry in the wind outside the third floor window and approached the large door.

 _Ding. Ding._

"Dad! There's someone at the door!"

"Matthew! Gimme back the robot!"

"Nu-uh! Magnus got me it for my birthday! It's mine!"

"Matthew! Give Bobby his robot back, Magnus got you the other one with the bright silver laser gun!"

"Why are you yelling at me, Daddy! I'm Bobby!" Scuffling was heard by the door as I patiently waited, the litre bottle slung over my shoulder and longsword held in my right hand.

"Sorry, I'll be right there." The figure of a tall man could be made out through the blurred glass as he fumbled with his keys, I couldn't help but smile at the interaction between him and his children.

"Hello, are you here to deliver my aero-" The man froze when he swung open the door, two small children fighting over robots stopped and stared at me, I must've looked strange, dressed in full formal attire while holding a sword and a litre container of water. "Can I help you?" The man was obviously Frederick Chase, he looked a lot like Annabeth, and had glasses perched on his nose as he gazed at me inquisitively.

"Ah... Yeah. Yeah, you can." I smiled awkwardly as the two children hurriedly disappeared into another room. "I'm looking for my quest members...? I told them to come here; we're on a quest to save your daughter." He blinked before a large smile slowly formed on his face.

"You're alive! This is great news, the others were devastated when they thought you were dead-"He caught himself and smiled apologetically, stepping back so I could enter. "I'm sorry; I'll put your water container somewhere safe if you'll ever need it... Your friends are on the third floor, second room to the left. Do you need any food? I can ask my wife to send you some." I smiled and nodded kindly as he continued speaking, he did have many similarities to Annabeth, with their desire for knowledge and their somewhat strange personalities.

"Thank you, I'd appreciate that Mr. Chase." He beamed at me as I took of my shoes and placed them by the rack. "And thank you for taking care of the others." He chuckled at me and patted me on the back as he left the room with the litre container.

"Those girls could easily take care of themselves, and just follow this corridor and take a right towards the stairs." I smiled at his retreating figure, he was a kind man; letting my blade shatter into shards, I stepped along the corridor, gazing at the numerous pictures of Annabeth and her family, I couldn't help but let a small feeling of melancholy sweep through me.

"Just what could cause you to run away from this family, Annabeth?" I breathed out, staring at a picture of her five-year old self with her father and step-mother, whom was cradling two children in her arms.

Passing the corridors and heading up the stairs, I could feel the family's presence throughout the house, be it an accidentally scattered paper about World War II, or a lego brick that I stood on, or the pictures of their family hung up on the walls.

 _He said the second door to the left, yeah?_ I paused outside said room as a voice rang out, albeit muffled.

"I'm telling you, stop crying and focus on the mission, he's dead. The end. Deal with it." Phoebe's voice was harsh as she scolded someone in the room.

"Yeah, easy for you to say: You're all just happy that _another male_ is dead, aren't you?!" Thalia spat back, she seemed to be at the back of the room as her voice was harder to pick up. "Of course you are, it's the perk of being a Hunter, isn't it?" Her voice was cracked, as if she had been crying earlier. "What about you, Bianca? You were his _friend_. Don't tell me that _you just set him up so that you had someone to hide behind when Nico found out you left!_ " Her voice had risen into a scream, and I was surprised at how no-one had come up to check. I paused, my hand resting on the door handle as Bianca spoke up.

"Don't drag me into this, Thalia." The newest Hunter snarled, I blinked in confusion, she usually never showed any sign of anger. "It was- It was better for him to die like that than to die slowly from that poison." Her voice faded as the sound of shuffling feet could be heard.

"The boy is dead, Grace. 'tis a waste of time waiting for him." Zoë finally spoke up, Thalia let out a snarl of anger and probably punched something, if the _thud_ I heard was anything to go by.

"You know what? Go ahead, let your gods damned prejudice blind you, after all; you're Hunters, it's what you do best, _isn't it?_ " The conversation died off soon after, and I was left standing at the door, filled with guilt. Of course I hadn't thought about how my decisions would affect the others back at the Junkyard, I glared at the door handle. _Shouldn't you have taken another action? Thought about anyone else's feelings?_ I gritted my teeth in anger and knocked on the door, twice.

 _Might as well face the consequences._

"Mr. Chase, I doth not think tis an appropriate time for thee-" Zoë held open the door, her posture head high as usual despite the black bags under her eyes and slanted tiara, her somewhat dull volcanic black eyes looked devoid of emotion as she looked out from the small wedge she had created with the door.

Her eyes slowly travelled up my body, taking in the fact that one-I was in different clothes, and two-I wasn't Frederick Chase.

Our eyes met, poisonous green meeting with a volcanic black, and she blinked, as if she was hallucinating and breathed out one word.

" _Perseus?"_

 **I completely changed this chapter and decided to save the earlier one I did for something after TTC, so to those people that saw it- You know what I'm talking about.**

 **Now. You may have noticed the pairing.**

 **Yep. Uh-huh. That's right.**

 **BUT for all you lot who wanted another, fear not.**

 **I'm going to be uploading either one or two new stories, both are gonna be a Percianca due to a new rule I have set for myself, both are going to be completely original ideas and I'm actually bubbling at the thought out writing them.**

 **They'll appear, either one of them will appear in two-three days, give or take. I hope you enjoy because I have so many many many ideas that I want to write about.**

 **Eh heheheheheheheheheh**

 **EDIT: Fixed a couple of spelling mistakes, linebreaks were missing for some strange reason.**

 **I also suck at action sequences, I can't seem to draw them out like others because face it: Fights irl are never that long anyway.**

 **Also that new story I mentioned? It'll be coming a lot faster than I thought. Give it a day or two.**

 **ALSO. Check out Izzybella12, her writing is really good and she just released a new fic called 'Apprentice', it's already shaping up to be really good and she uploads on a much more reliable basis compared to me.**

 **Of course, I never meant unreliable... Let's just call me... Unpredictable.**

 **I hope you like the next oncoming story.**

 **Eh heheheheheheheheh**


	8. Am II

"Impossible." Zoë took a step back, letting the door swing open. "Thou hast fallen to Talos, I'm sure." Her face was white as a sheet, as if I was a ghost. Then again, maybe I was to her. I stood in the doorway awakrdly, watching the other three's eyes whip to our direction.

"What is it, Zo-"Phoebe almost fell out of the small beanie bag she was resting in from shock, her ginger hair still tied up in a towel as she let out a yelp of shock. " _Di immortales,_ how are you alive?!" I grinned awkwardly at the two and rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"Sorry if I'm late; I was practically dead by the time the two deities found me." My eyes flickered to the lieutenant as she sat herself down and sent me arguably the coldest glare I've ever felt. There was no way in hell I would tell her what actually happened, unless I had a death sentence. Turning to the other two, I blinked at the oncoming demigod. "Thalia-"

 _Crunch._

"Yeah, I-"I coughed, bending over in pain. "I probably deserved that." Gasping in pain, I could only stare at her studded boots, steel-toe capped too, judging the pain from my stomach. "I missed you too. Thals." I looked up in shock to see her electric blue eyes welling tears as her face was contorted in a quiet snarl.

"You little shit." She crushed me in a hug and buried her head in my shoulder, patting her awkwardly- I didn't know what to do to a crying girl when there were 3 Hunters in the room- and we fell onto the floor, I patted the girl's hair as she continued to sob quietly into my shoulder. "Gimme a reason why I shouldn't kill you now." She hissed, I paled at the electricity sparking off her right fist and attempted to act indifferent.

"Well, you did seem pretty sad when I apparently died so-" _Wham._ An electric-filled fist slammed into my leg _, "Right,_ I think I got the point." She let out a watery chuckle and nestles her head in my lap as I sat up.

Turning to the other girl I hadn't spoken to, I was mildly surprised that Bianca had left the room out to the balcony outside, shrugging the thought out of his mind, he continued playing with Thalia's hair as he cast his gaze to the lieutenant who seemed to be sinking into the beanie bag beside Phoebe's.

"Who helped you?" it was obvious some sort of divine intervention had taken place, seeing as how getting from Arizona to San Francisco in the space of a few hours was nigh impossible, leaning against the bedside, I absently noticed Thalia's can of Mace and her Aegis hung up on the wall.

Zoë's harsh glare never faltered. "A man named Fred. He helped thy group on _Sun_ West railways." She scowled and folded her arms, the lean muscle in her bare arms flexing slightly as she stared at me, her inquisitive glare seemed to dissect my very being as I shifted uncomfortably. "Do not say, I knoweth of whom hath helped you, ther'd be none other with sucheth horrid fashion." I could almost hear an indignant _Hey!_ in the distance.

"They were checking on something within the junkyard, but found me instead." Her gaze didn't falter as we had a mini-staring contest, Phoebe had left the room into the en suite bathroom to dry her hair and Thalia seemed to have dozed off on me.

"What hath happened in there, thy mind tis filled with doubts after what'th happened." I froze at her question and immediately searched my mind for anything I could come up with. "I doubt thee slaughtered the giant." I suppressed a grin as I remembered the sight of the machine after my strange outburst had ended.

"Well..." How could I tell her that she appeared and... I shook my head and smiled at her; "I was near death. But Lord Ares stepped in and save me." She nodded slowly, as if my answer was acceptable. She didn't look convinced at all, and as I gently rested Thalia's head on the pillow I had grabbed from the bed, her stare continued to follow me as I tiptoed to the balcony.

Hopping out the window, I found Bianca sitting on the handrail, her legs swinging below as she stared out at the city before us, with its bright lights and cars travelling by.

"I knew you weren't dead," She smiled softly to the moon as I leaned on the rail beside her. "I don't know how, but I _knew._ "She focused her gaze on me and my new clothes. "Nice threads, you nerd." I snickered quietly.

"Why'd you tell the others that I was 'surely' dead?" She flinched momentarily, a shadow of an emotion flitting by as she smiled apologetically, I shrugged in response and yawned quietly as we continued to stare out to the city, its nightlife made me awfully reminiscent for New York, with its bustling traffic and filled underground.

"How could I tell them, that I knew you weren't dead but couldn't understand?"She glared at the passing cars angrily as she hurriedly wiped her eyes. "We used to be bullied about it, in pre-school, Nico would sometimes act all weird and grab some person and go 'someone in your family's going to die' Do you know how scary it was? That I could feel the same and the predictions were always _true_?" I winced at her explanation; no sister would want their brother to be alienated like that.

Something seemed to click in my mind as I tried to comfort the Hunter. Pale olive skin, dark brown eyes and a gaunt expression? I remembered Theo telling me of someone who he had met during his first quest that had those features.

I clicked my fingers, "Hades." The girl blinked and tilted her head to the side, as if she didn't understand a joke I had said, her bitter expression disappearing instantly.

"Excuse me?"

"Your father, it must be Hades. Theo mentioned that he met him during his first quest and the way he describes you seems to match perfectly. And your affinity with death. It all makes sense!" I chuckled at her befuddled look and let a small sigh of relief. "Good, it's Hades," I breathed.

"What do you mean _good_? He's done nothing throughout our lives but just alienate me and Nico away from him!" Her voice was an angry whisper, I smiled apologetically at her as she turned away, crossing her arms, gods, she looked like a child throwing a temper tantrum. She must've realised it as she started giggling with me.

"Hades would never kill his child; you wouldn't be involved in the last line of the prophecy." Realization seemed to dawn on her features and an almost hopeful smile broke out on her face, her smile seemed to light up in the bright moonlight, surrounding her in a soft silvery glow as she fiddled with her hair.

"You mean it?" I smiled, of course she had doubts when she had first joined the quest, ever since Zoë had chosen her, but if I was true, then that'd mean she'd live to see the end of tomorrow and be happy with her new family, Nico would be happy to see his sister too.

"Yep." I nodded, "So you and Thals are safe with the prophecy." That was good, all I needed to do was ensure that Zoë and Phoebe were excluded, and they would be safe.

 _But what about you? Don't you want to-say, sacrifice the Phoebe girl for your own survival? The others would accept it as... Fate._ That little hiss, creeping in from the depths of my mind, spoke up after such a long time. I drew a sharp intake of breath, the voice seemed to show me images... Of the future; where I would be celebrating with the others on Olympus, Phoebe nowhere to be seen.

 _I can't do that._ The temptation was still there, the smallest of urges, like a tiny itch in the back of my head, it grew in my mind, affecting my thoughts. Poisoning them with the softest of urges, _festering_ in my brain.

"-rcy? Percy? Are you okay?" Bianca's voice spoke up, the soft evening breeze gently blowing at her hair. "What's wrong?" She must've noticed my pale complexion, shaking my head, I turned to the girl with my signature smile.

"I'm fine, B. Don't worry."The voice had gone silent, but the presence still remained. Like another being was trying to influence me. "I-I'll just need some rest, alright? I'll see you tomorrow, B." I left the girl and ignored the questions she asked and slipped through the window.

 _Come now, don't think for a second that you're going to play the hero and die in the most clichédway up on Mount Orthrys, saying 'I see stars' or, 'I love thee' when you see Zoë's face for the last time._

I scowled silently, my mind being flooded by this strange onslaught of negative emotion that dripped from the voice.I could feel it slowly taking a hold of me; it was useless to fight against it, like an ant that engaged a tug-of-war fight with a Lydian Drakon.

Zoë had draped the sleeping Thalia with a duvet cover and had retreated to the corner of the room, where she sharpened her dagger quietly. Phoebe had gone to sleep on the massive bed and the lieutenants eyes flickered to me warily as I tiptoed past.

"Perseus." She must've seen my white face as I passed, grabbing my wrist as I passed by, she narrowed her eyes, seemingly staring through me, as if she could see everything inside. "What hath thee planned?" I stared her down, finally winning my very first glaring contest with her as she broke eye contact. Tearing my hand out of her grip roughly, I stepped through the open door and turned back, her face seemed to flicker with numerous emotions as I sneered.

"Why would you care? It doesn't concern any of your beloved maidens anyway." I inwardly revelled in the faint shock that registered on her face as I slowly closed the door and made my way downstairs, the feeling of hatred and fury slowly fading as the pain in my arm returned.

"Ah! Percy! Here you are, I was just going to come fetch you after I put Bobby and Matthew to sleep, what is it that's gotten you so white?" Frederick Chase had stepped out from the room to the right, holding a small platter of sandwiches as he gazed down on my curiously.

"Sorry, Mr. Chase, just had a small moment reuniting with the others." I lied, plastering on the best smile I could muster, He passed the plate to me, holding it with my right hand as I hid my left arm from sight. "I also came down to ask if you had an extra room for me to reside in..." I started politely as he blinked before slapping his forehead.

"Of course! I hadn't considered the sleeping arrangements when you arrived. I assumed you'd be fine with staying with the girls upstairs, good to see some manners, eh?" He chuckled at my flustered expression and smiled kindly. "Don't worry, the room across from theirs should do just fine, it was Annabeth's room, but you can use it for now-she won't mind for now." His face saddened at the mention of his daughter.

"Thank you, Mr. Chase." I hurriedly left with the platters before he could start talking again, the felling in my arm seemed to make everything annoy me as I half-stumbled back up the stairs.

"What in the name of Hades...? I didn't even feel anything when I was talking to the others, why are your outbursts so random? " I leaned against the wall, the coolness offering no relief for the feeling of pins being inserted into my skin slowly. "Gods damn it." A stray tear leaked out and I could feel my old self, the cowardly self slowly creep up, no matter how much I tried to push it down.

 _Clang._ The plate dropped onto the ground and rolled in a perfect circle once before falling down the stairs, letting out loud clangs when it bumped its way down. I dropped to my knees, my nails tearing into the wallpaper as I supported myself.

" _Di immortales._ " I swore as I tore off my suit jacket, unbuttoning my shirt hurriedly, I stared at the poison that had been spreading through my body. "it spread that fast?" The entire arm was black, pulsating a deeper shade of red than ever; I looked at the spreading black tendrils barely touching my left chest, almost teasing my heart.

Hissing in agony, I stumbled by the stairs and hurriedly barged into Annabeth's room, vclutching at my chest in pain, I threw my jacket to the side with the several books that littered the floor and buried myself in the bed. _Whatever happens, I die tomorrow._

I had left my door open, and within them; a pair of volcanic black eyes stared at me through the small crack to the door on the left on the third floor.

-Linebreak of linebreaking-

To say that I felt like shit would be an understatement, the pain had carried over into my few bursts of sleep and into the dreams I went into.

I was standing on the side of a mountain, where a large glittering forest lay below and even further; a large Greek city glowed in the distance, my vision seemed to be tied to a man running up, his chiselled looks reminded me of that kind of hero seen in books who always got the happy ending, his bright blue eyes and blonde hair signified him to be either a son of Zeus or Apollo.

A girl was leading him, a small, young girl, tugging on his hand as an unearthly roar sounded from the end of their path.

"Ladon awakes, hero, there is no chance for thee, turn back, run!" That voice sounded awfully similar, and as I tried to get a better look at the girl, she had silky black hair that fell to her waist and she was dressed in a traditional silver chiton, with no intricate designs etched upon them compared to the goddesses I had met.

She was facing away from this 'hero' and seemed to be scanning the area warily; her face was hidden from me as the wind seemed to blow at her hair gently, covering her face.

The hero flexed his arms and I refused to gag, he looked like an Ares camper trying his luck with the Naiads, and trust me when I say I've seen plenty of that, thanks. I almost missed their conversation.

"No beast shall harm me, I have bested thousands before. An overgrown dragon will be nothing compared _to_ me." The girl nodded, as if she was trying to convince herself as she finally turned.

I'm thanking the gods that I didn't have a body, else I'm sure my eyes would be wide-eyed saucers and my jaw would drop to the ground at the sight of the maiden, she took out a hairclip from her hands and hesitated, gazing at it as it changed form; and to my even greater shock, _my_ sword, Riptide, appeared in her hands.

"Tis imbued with thy immortal essence." Zoë looked torn between running to help or running in fear. "Now go, hero! Thine sisters hath learned of thy treachery." She passed Riptide to the hero, who grunted in surprise and twirled it in his hand, a small grin appearing on his face as the lieutenant disappeared with the wind.

The cobblestone path seemed to shake as another roar, much closer, could be heard now and the man drew another sword at his waist and twirled both in his hands, dual wielding the weapons as he stared at the looming shadow emerging from the forest in front.

His war cry echoed through my mind as the pain in my left arm jolt me back to reality.

-I feel like linebreaks aren't exactly helping with the mood, so how's your day?-

I didn't sleep that night at all, an awkward glance at Zoë during the tense breakfast did nothing to improve my mood, the only solace? When Frederick offered to drive us to the foot of Orthrys, saying how it was the 'least he could do to apologise to his daughter'

Instead of chatting quietly or preparing for the battle in the long journey, I suffered through small pockets of sleep I had went through, going through dreamless rests, always waking up between with a muffled cry of pain as the feeling of pain seemed to wrap around my arm and slowly _squeeze_ it.

Waking up from my latest dream, I let out a sharp gasp at the pressure on my chest as I lay in a cold sweat in the front seat beside the drivers, breathing was slowly becoming harder, and I could see small webs of black in the corners of my tinted-green vision, that had definitely been a demigod dream, and the infection had grown, obviously, throughout the course of my three hour nap.

"What's wrong, Percy- Oh lords, what's happened to you?" Frederick tore his eyes from the road to gaze at me in shock, frowning in confusion; I could feel a sharp prick in my neck, as if someone stabbed at it with a needle.

 _Dear Gods. Please, no..._ I rolled the window and looked at my neck, staring at the mirror; I could only feel the feeling in my stomach drop as my worst fears were confirmed, I glared at the blackened skin on my neck angrily and growled quietly.

"Percy? What is it?" Thalia yawned and stretched from her position at the back of the SUV. I hurriedly closed the window and adjusted my collar, partially blocking the black skin from the others.

"Nothing, Thals, just my arm. Did I just wake you?" I ignored the confused look on Frederick's face and smiled cheerfully to the daughter of Zeus, she nodded and grumbled something quiet before returning to her position, her eyes closed as she probably tried to fall asleep.

I turned to the front, pushing the pain out of my mind as I tried to focus on evening my breath while adjusting my vision with the dark green tint, smiling slightly as I could make out the softly snoring Bianca beside Phoebe, who was twirling her knives in her fingers in the rear view mirror. Zoë was seated, her tiara placed proudly on her hair as she stared right at me through the mirror, averting my gaze instantly, I turned my view outside the black SUV, a faint heat pulsing in my cheeks.

We were heading up the same path I had seen the hero in my dreams traipse with Zoë, the forest below still glittered in the afternoon sunlight, and San Francisco glowed in the distance instead of the ancient Greek city. The radio inside played music quietly as we readied ourselves, the end of the road was near; if the dream I had was to provide comfort.

"We're here, kids." Frederick seemed to falter as he looked up, a shadow of doubt passing by. "Are you sure you want me to drop you off here? I'm sure we can-"Thalia cut him off swiftly with a quick smile of gratitude and threw open the door to the outside.

"Its fine, Mr. Chase, we can't have you getting injured, Annie would kill me if something happened to you." A ghost of a smile flickered as he stared at the gateway to the forest uneasily. "Really. It's fine." Phoebe poked Bianca awake and Thalia had already slid out the SUB, following her example, I quickly jumped out after a fast 'thanks' and let my leaden legs hit the gravel path underneath.

Walking towards the rusted gates, I frowned at the several rusted iron chains holding it shut and shrugged, easily scaling the meter-tall gate. Camp had a massive lava wall that I excelled at, anyway. The rest of the members quickly followed suit as we watched the black car pull up and drive back down.

"Ugh, damned gate." Thalia grumbled, "The radio started playing Green Day too." Bianca raised an eyebrow at the girl's grumbling and snickered, she looked much more at ease than the night before.

"So you'd endanger your friend's dad's life so you could listen to a song?" Thalia snorted in derision and kicked dust at the girl, hacking at the bushy undergrowth with her spear as Bianca hopped over a thorn bush.

"Of course not, but I'd rather hear _Novacaine_ before what could be my very last battle." Phoebe snickered quietly, Bianca turned to her fellow Huntress in mock anger.

"You! You're siding with the person you hate? I trusted you-" I stopped walking, my legs were burning and I needed a rest, but something felt uneasy in the air as the others stopped walking up the forest path.

"Be quiet." I snapped, my mind was already occupied on suppressing the pain and their voices were thinning my almost non-existent patience. "Something's not right." I stalked forward and to my surprise, the forest ended abruptly, grassy undergrowth grown over the tree stumps that lined the edge of the clearing. "What the-" I stared at the massive tree in the center of the clearing that put the Talos I had destroyed to shame.

There seemed to be a tune playing, a soft, melodic song, sung by angelic voices. They beckoned for us to come, to climb the massive tree and meet those voices. I frowned at the other questers, could they not hear it? The song softly called me to come, to the source of the sweet melody.

"The apples of immortality, Hera's wedding gift." Thalia breathed in shock. I eyed the massive snake-like being wrapped around the tree as the melody stopped abruptly, the soothing melody fading from mind, leaving me in my suffering state.

"Doesn't seem like the best Christmas present." I snapped back testily, she frowned at my behaviour and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could; four girls, age ranging from twelve to seventeen, floated from above the tree, each and every one sporting identical chitons and wore identical expressions, ones of disgust.

"What hath we here? Foolish heroes for Ladon-?"The smallest one snarled, but stopped immediately at the sight of Zoë. "Sister!" She let out a happy cheer and threw herself onto the Huntress, the lieutenant smiled affectionately and stroked the girl's black hair affectionately.

"Aegle, what hath thee done while I was away?" Zoë smiled, a true smile, as she gazed down at the small girl who had quite suddenly burst into tears. The three surrounded her, giving each other hugs and crying tears of joy, Thalia and Bianca blinked in surprise at the sudden change in attitude towards them. I wasn't even surprised anymore, in my dream; Zoë had mentioned how she had sisters, It was obvious who they were, they all looked the same, with matching regal expressions and the coppery skin.

"Wait." Thalia shook her head, tearing her gaze from the hundred-headed serpent to the small family reunion as Aegle climbed onto Zoë's shoulders. "You're a Hesperide, a daughter of Atlas?" Her tone was accusing, as she stared at the lieutenant.

"What's so bad about that? Your own father's a son of a Titan." Phoebe stepped in front of the small reunion protectively. Thalia blanched and shrugged indifferently as she scowled at the two.

"Could've just told us that at the start of the quest, we wouldn't take you if we knew." She crossed her arm and hung back as the group started walking. "If your dad's the General, then maybe you should stay down here." Zoë looked up from her job of braiding the second oldest's hair and shook her head indignantly.

"I shan't, my lady awaits thy rescue." I drummed my fingers on the rock beside me impatiently, the end was so near, _Artemis_ was so near, _my death_ was so close. Couldn't we just get this done and dusted with, already?

"And who is this?" The two oldest Hesperides approached me, the way their hair danced in the wind and the way the first bit her lip was almost... Seductive, it didn't actually help that they both looked an older version of Zoë either.

"Tis Perseus," Thalia imitated Zoë's old English and snickered at my irritated expression as they flanked me, one of them running a hand through my hair as she cupped my cheeks while the other grasped my hands- their hands were soft, as smooth as silk, not that matters, anyway- And the one cupping my cheek smiled warmly as she stared at me.

"Thy name is Erytheia." She crooned, softly rummaging my hair as she brought her face close, too close. I could feel her warm breath tickling my cheek as I could barely make out her features through the green haze. "Hath thou came'st to entertain thy bored being?" She leaned in and pecked my lips, immediately backing away from me when Zoë shot her a frigid glare that would make a glacier seem warm and chuckled at the lieutenant.

"Doth not worry, Zoë. I shalt claim him as one of ours after the quest of thee." She touched her ruby-red lips and winked at Zoë, who's glare turned even colder, if that was even possible.

"So I shalt get to have him? Oh, tis been such'th a long time ever since the company of a good man!" The one grasping my hands brought them up for inspection. "Hmm... Poison of a Lydian Drakon, nothing that an apple will fix later, and with dress blessed by lady Aphrodite! I declare we keep him." The girl getting her hair done rolled her eyes, a golden blush dusting her cheeks.

"Thy name is Hesperia." The girl holding my hands pointed at the girl with the new hair. "Tis Arethusa," The girl gave me a small wave. She dropped my hands and gripped my face tightly in her hands, her eyes taking in every feature, from the spreading poison to my eyes. "He shalt do." She swooped down and kissed me, instead of the quick peck from Erytheia, we remained in that position for several moments, with my anger and frustration slowly growing as the girl _just wouldn't stop nibbling on my damned lip._

She pulled back quite suddenly, gasping for air. Licking her lips, she blushed a golden hue as she smoothed her hair. I sighed quietly as she giggled, I didn't even care anymore that I quite frankly just had my first kiss stolen from me, or the fact how the girls seemed to be eyeing me like a piece of meat.

"P-Percy... Did, did she..." Bianca gaped like a goldfish and shrugged indifferently, my irritated expression quickly returning as my heart thumped painfully. "Dear gods." She covered her mouth in horror and stepped back, Phoebe shot me a glare and I responded with one of my own kind.

It seemed like Zoë got the message, as she let the young girl on her shoulders climb off before straightening herself, a ghost of a smile on her face as Aegle ran to join the others. "Perseus wishes to go. We must go to Father, he hath captured my lady." Aegle blinked at the hunter owlishly.

"But Father would-"

"Hush. Ladon stirs." Erytheia warned us, I tried to ignore how she only stood in front of me and Zoë protectively. "Quickly, we shalt sing him to sleep- run by him then." Zoë nodded; a soft smile on her lips when the older Hesperide ruffled her hair affectionately.

"I shalt miss thee, sisters." She sounded like she was saying farewell for life, Erytheia nodded grimly and turned to face me, a hand softly brushing my cheek, I refrained from throwing her away from me, mostly because those were Zoë's sisters. "Let us go." Zoë took off in a sprint, passing by the sleeping serpent as the girls started their song again, their beautiful lullaby ringing clearly throughout the afternoon sky.

.

.

"Well," Thalia started as she panted for breath. "Zoë, I didn't know your sisters were so..." She cast a look at me and snickered at the irritated expression painted on my face, we were resting by the Cliffside that overlooked the ocean. The summit was near so we had decided to take a short break so we could engage with Atlas above with all of our strength.

"Thirsty?" Bianca supplied unhelpfully as she and Thalia snickered quietly before engaging in conversation about _Green Day_. I was about to retort with something witty to shut them up when my heart seemed to seize, an unknown pain crushing it in my chest. Slamming my palm into the rock wall beside me to support myself, I brushed away any concerns Thalia sent to me as I hastily gulped from the ambrosia container she offered.

"The poison's reached your heart. You've basically reached the terminal point of this... Disease." Phoebe passed me a silver water container with the words _MIAMI EXPEDITION 1999_ , her eyes were a myriad of emotions as I slumped onto the grassland below. Every heartbeat echoed pain now, it seemed to increase with every beat as I gulped down the container."It's in your bloodstream, so you won't live for long unless it's treated, your heart's going to slowly wither as it kills itself, and the blood it pumps to the rest of your body will be filled with poison." She sat down next to me, she resigned, almost sad.

"I figured that out when it started hurting like Hades." She chuckled meekly at my joke and stored the empty container in the bag. "I'm going to die anyway, so might as well start drawing lots on how I'm going to die. Ten drachmas for me being impaled by something." We both laughed at my joke, all other conversation had gone quiet as Thalia and Bianca stared out to the sea, both intently listening to our conversation. Zoë remained seated against the rock wall and occasional looks of several emotions would be shot to me when I wasn't looking.

"Nah, I'd say it's the poison." I chuckled as the ambrosia dulled the pain; it was still there, festering in my body. But it couldn't be felt, for now.

"You changed a lot during the quest, Jackson." Phoebe reached into her bag and produced two cans of Pepsi, both with a large D painted on it. "Remember when you first appeared and dumped me in that mound of clothes?" She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the thought. "Couldn't get the smell off for a week." I rolled my eyes and grinned at her tiredly, why were we talking like I was in memorial anyway?

"And how you got Zoë to shoot arrows at me with you to 'train' my phasing?" I caught the can she tossed and popped it, the refreshing coldness cooling my head. Phoebe smirked at the memory, it had only been two weeks ago, but it seemed like years.

"Truth is-" She started, her muscles flexing as she tore off the entire lid of the can."You always reminded me of my little brother, he's at camp right now; son of Ares, eighteen years old now." I blinked in confusion. "Not at the first glance, no. You were just a snivelling little male who managed to outwit me." She sniggered at my poker face. "I figured that maybe you weren't such a bad dude when you nearly killed yourself for us to escape- I healed Bianca's ankle, by the way, I'm the best healer in the Hunt-"I snorted into my drink at her not-so-subtle boast.

"Gee, just took me a near-death experience to prove I'm the slightest bit different." She laughed at that, a loud laugh that seemed to echo down the mountain. "So you spent the entire trip up just to tell me that, you could've told me that earlier, I kinda guessed I was special when you looked half-dead back at Frederick's" She swatted at me with her free hand, I smirked at her flustered expression "Wait, why are we talking in past tense anyway?" Her smile disappeared, and she took a few moments to think as she chugged the can.

"Let's face it." She turned away from me and crushed the empty can in her hand. "You're not going to survive this, we all know." She sent a pointed glance to Bianca, who immediately hid behind her hair.

"You told them?" She nodded quietly as I gave her an exhausted grin, "That's great! When you get back to camp, you'll probably be claimed, along with Nico." She gave a small smile before turning away quickly as Phoebe uncomfortably shifted.

"That chat turned dark real quick." I let out a small cough and grimaced at the sight of black liquid coating my hand as I wiped it on the grass hurriedly and glared at Thalia for her not-so-helpful remark. Wait, was it me or was Bianca crying? I brushed the thought off, everything looked shiny in the dark green haze that had occupied my vision; I was actually starting to miss my former vision.

"Why did you even tell me that, Phoebe? That was quite random." I finished my own can and attempted to crush it in my hands like the muscular daughter of Ares did, she snorted at my failed attempt and took it from me, tossing the remains into the bag.

"Don't know, never was good with emotions. Maybe cause you're as good as dead? I'd rather get it off my chest now rather than telling you at your funeral." She grunted. "And I never said I loved you like a brother or any of that cheesy nonsense, just saying you remind me of him. Don't get your hopes up." She grunted and passed a can to Zoë, who accepted it silently.

"Oh, so I get a funeral now? Can you dress me up pretty and give me a blood red rose?" No-one laughed at my joke.

The chat ended there, the heavy silence in the air was almost suffocating as we finished off our beverages and packed everything away. I stood up, helped by Phoebe as I took a look at my arm, its red veins pulsating brightly, as if it was signifying danger.

"I'm still betting ten drachmas on being impaled." I snickered as I leaned on the Hunter for assistance.

"Yeah right, it's the poison."

"Sure."

-You're at the... SUMMIT-

"What the-"I stared at the massive ruins of a castle before me, "What's this?" I stumbled forward, Phoebe supporting me as I ran my fingers along the cracked black marble.

"Orthrys." Zoë finally spoke up, her voice seemed quiet, faint. As if it was laden with emotion. "It shouldn't be here. Tis a bad sign. The Titans art using thy Father's home as a base."She walked right past the empty ruins, shooting a look of disgust at it. "Come, let us go." I could practically see the summit, just above a tiny path up; it was almost anticlimactic, with such a small distance to the destination. Phoebe must've noticed my somewhat delirious expression as she picked me up and slung me round her shoulders.

"Wha-"She bounded forward after Zoë, Bianca and Thalia- who had been extremely quiet during the last stretches of the journey- hot on her heels. "Okay then." I could practically sense her rolling her eyes at my sarcasm as she leapt over the small bed of thorns that decorated the sides of the path.

I guessed that we had reached the summit when I was unceremoniously dropped by Phoebe as she and Zoë rushed towards a pair of beings with a cry of "Milady!" in unison.

"No, turn back. It's a trap my girls, He'll be here shortly." Artemis managed weakly, I could barely make out her twelve-year old features, she was wrapped in chains and seemed to be holding up a massive rock with the other person next to her. She jutted her head to the right and the two Huntress' gaze was cast to the forming bodies of three beings. I recognised the General from the museum, and Luke Castellan beside him, his half bronze, half steel sword Backbiter glowed in a cruel light.

The third must've been the paper plate man I had see0n previously, I frowned at his face, he looked awfully similar to someone I knew, I didn't even have the energy to be surprised, as quite literally all enemies I faced looked like someone I had met before.

There was a small tank beside the two beings in chains by the massive rock-it was the world, but I refused to see it as that- inside, a small cow-serpent hybrid swum inside, it looked quite oblivious to the events before it, for some reason in my numbing brain the phrase _Ignorance is Bliss_ rang through.

"Father!" Zoë cried out, she turned to the other being, and now that I took a look, he did look like quite the splitting image of Zoë with the way he held himself in high-regard. "Why art thee in chains?" The man managed a pained grunt before speaking up.

"Kronos discovered that I was a spy for Olympus and imprisoned me here again." He snarled at the standing form of the General, his forehead beaded with sweat.

 _Wait... what? So who's this General?_

"Funny you should ask, demigod." The General sneered at me, his features contorted into that of a manic smirk. "My name in Perses. Titan of Destruction."

-Yes, I did change the titles of General cause BLAME IZZYBELLA12 AND THE FEELS FROM ATLAS-

I had many thoughts crossing my mind that moment, ranging from _When do I die?_ To _Why does he look like Zoë then?_

I watched Zoë and Phoebe return to my side, their bows drawn as Thalia and Bianca stepped in front of me protectively. Perses sneered down at them, his gaze momentarily lingering on Zoë.

"How is my niece, anyway? Can't imagine years with the moon goddess would do one much good." He laughed mockingly at her pale complexion." I knew his intention, Titans were bound by their laws, they could not fight unless they were challenged first. "Come! Why don't you tell your dear uncle of your adventures?" He cackled when no-one moved. "Of course, little man-hating whores are always the tighte-" Phoebe let out a quiet snarl, her fingers twitching on her bow as they stared at the Titan, Luke was standing beside Perses with a lazy smile as he stood in front of a small cage to the side.

"A-nnabe-th" I gripped Phoebe's ankle from the ground and tried to signal to her, she cast her gaze towards the general direction I was staring at, and she gasped quietly when she saw the daughter of Athena spread-eagles on the cage floor, unconscious, but _alive_.

"We'll get her, don't worry." Thalia was staring at Luke with thinly veiled hatred, her spear crackling with electricity as her Aegis popped out from its watch form.

"Dear gods, is this just going to be a staring fight? I'm sure you want to save your dearest father and Hunter, niece. And maybe that boy at your feet you've slowly grown fond o-" He stopped abruptly and dodged past a silver arrow, I turned slightly to see Zoë's expression, full of rage and hate as she nocked another arrow. "Good! You challenged!" Instantly, the pin-striped suit had disappeared in a flash, the clothes being replaced by full bronze armor, with a bloodied plume perched atop his helmet, he flicked his arm forward and a spear shot out of the ground, its tip pointed to our group.

Zoë looked to Phoebe, who nodded and turned to Thalia and Bianca, both girls were white at the thought of fighting such a powerful being and Bianca's fingers trembled as her grip on her bow slackened.

"You two," Phoebe turned to the daughters of the Big Three. "Take care of the Percy wannabe, we got this Titan." She smirked as they steeled themselves as the man, _Pistinemo_ , approached slowly, no weapon in hand. With a united war-cry, all four charged forward dto their respective opponents as I struggled to get up.

" _Gods damnit!"_ I pounded the ground as my legs refused to respond, tears were starting to fall as I watched Phoebe barely dodge a sweep as the Titan of Destruction grinned wildly, a look to Bianca and Thalia as they squared off against the rogue god didn't help at all, the man seemed unfazed by their advances as Bianca fired arrows while Thalia held guard, the man did nothing but casually side-step the arrows as he advanced at a leisurely pace. _"Get up!"_ I screamed into the ground, _"Please!"_ The body refused to respond as I slammed my fist onto the ground.

"Boy." Atlas rumbled, his gaze cast on me, a tiny, near-death demigod. "Come here." He grunted, "Now. If you truly care for my daughter and your friends. You'll do what I tell you." Slowly, but surely, I could feel my fingers tearing into the ground , slowly pulling myself along the dirt as the fights raged on, how Bianca was thrown to the side like a ragdoll while Thalia defended her limp body against the unarmed god, how Phoebe's shoulder was dislocated by a save jab at the butt of the Titan's spear, how she popped it into place with a savage grin and returned to her deadly dance around Perses.

My fingers brushed against his feet, and I looked up to man, his neatly trimmed hair glistened with sweat as he seemed to be carrying the brunt of the weight compared to Artemis. He nodded slowly, as if satisfied and let out a small roar when Zoë was almost beheaded by the spear. Instantly, the small tank tipped, the small cow hybrid falling onto the ground beside me.

"No. You can't be serious." Artemis managed out; she too was drenched in sweat as she seemed to be being crushed under the weight. Atlas nodded grimly, his muscles tensing as he pushed harder against the massive rock. "that will be suicide." She managed, her silver eyes flashing to my face as the black tendrils curled up my face, I could feel them in my cheeks, turning them numb, without feeling.

"He has the conviction. He has to." Atlas kicked a small dagger from the goddess' feet towards me, the tip grazing my numbed thumb. "Do it! _Do it for your friends!_ " He roared, spittle flying down onto me, I swallowed back a sob of anger as my fingers clasped the dagger hilt.

"It's the Ophiotaurus, Perseus. By sacrificing it one would gain the power to topple gods." She hissed in pain as I used the dagger to pull myself up, the blade buried deep in the ground. "If Atlas believes you worthy, then I will agree, for just this once." She grunted as Atlas shifted more weight onto himself. "Do it!" She hissed.

My fingers brushed the scales of the still-struggling cute little cow serpent, I couldn't feel anything in my left arm, but I could still move my arm despite its numbness, slamming my arm into the ground beside the Ophiotaurus, my stiff fingers digging into the ground and scooped up the little creature, it let out a panicked "Moo!" and struggled to move in my hands.

I raised the dagger, panting as my eyes leaked black blood, I collapsed onto my back, the Ophiotaurus held to my chest tightly as if it was a lifeline, its struggles continuous struggles weakened the grip I had on it. Raising the dagger, I caught a glimpse of the battle before me, both the Titan and the Hunters looked tires and were all covered in injuries, Luke was too busy laughing at a now-conscious Annabeth as she screamed Thalias names from the bars. Said girl was struggling against the iron grip Pistinemo had on her throat, her canister of Mace and Aegis nowhere to be seen, Bianca was still unmoving by the ground, unconscious or dead, I didn't know.

Pistinemo caught a glimpse of what I was doing when Thalia's eyes strayed to my direction, his mouth forming a perfect O as he threw Thalia by Luke's feet and launched himself in my direction.

Time seemed to slow and all color seemed to fade from my vision, leaving the world in black and white, with the exceptions of Phoebe's ginger hair and Zoë's glittering eyes as both Hunters and Titan slowly whipped round to see the commotion. I could see Pistinemo, his face contorted in a snarl as his body lit up a dark green, as if his body dissolved into green crystals. A dark green, glittering ethereal hand centimetres from my face.

I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling the black blood leak from my mouth as fingers brushed against my own as my grip tightened and brought the dagger down to my chest, where the Ophiotaurus struggled. Oblivious to the sound and happenings outside, buried in the darkness, a single sentence echoing in my head.

" _I, Perseus Jackson. Sacrifice the Ophiotaurus for the power to slay Titans."_

 **Heh, Did you like that? And no I'm not trying to take the crown of King of Cliffhangers from Queen Izzybella12 BUT that was pretty good, right? I had to get myself into the mood by listening to music-cough Green Day, BMTH- cough cough. And I just went wild. (Cookies guessing to the album by GD)**

 **Maybe too wild, no?**

 **FOR THOSE POEPLE WHO ARE CONFUSED WITH THE GENERAL BIT:**

 **I almost confused myself, but here:**

 **The General met at the museum was Perses.**

 **The meeting in Mike's b-day room (lol) was in the past, the only reason Kronos could communicate with Percy was because he's the Titan of Time, if you remember how he said for Atlas to return to his post at Orthrys for the time being.**

 **Atlas was found to be a traitor to the Titans sometime between the quest start and museum encounter, khapeesh?**

 **If it sounds confusing, I will say same: But I tried to explain it subtly by including the "Do not speak of her name!" Atlas all but screams in the real TC when Zoë is mentioned.**

 **IF anything, blame Izzybella12 for writing the Escaped Titan and making me feel kinship to the godsdamned Titan.**

 **The Hesperides were described in the way they were from the amount of myths I read about them, did you know they originally were apparently in the west? Where the sun sets? And then another dude said that it was in the Hyperborean-AKA if you remember Khione and dudes. Interesting stuff.**

 **BUT The Hesperides are known to sing entrancing songs akin to that of a Siren's and lead people to their deaths unless its mean, as they have had little to none male contact due to their duties of tending to the Apples of Immortality.**

 **Tell me how it was in the reviews, I hope it was just as interesting to ya'll as it was for me to type.**

 **I won't tell you to Follow or Favorite because I ain't your momma and I don't tell you what to do.**

 **Reviews are to answered in next chapter.**

 **ALSO WE HIT 100 FOLLOWERS. THAT'S PRETTY GOSH DARN AWESOME, YEAH?**

 **I've got the prophecy for the war right here, for you guys who asked.**

 _A half-blood of an unknown origin_

 _Shall reach sixteen committing his mortal sin_

 _And curse the world with eternal night_

 _The hero's soul, to be saved by beloved light._

 _The power of gods, for him to tame_

 _Yet light will be there to extinguish his flame_


	9. Am III

Well, for starters, I didn't feel like Titan Slaying material.

I lay there, with a cow-serpent slowly bleeding out on my chest, screaming in pain while a man known for his paper plate masks shook me repeatedly.

" _What did you do?!"_ Pistinemo wrenched the dying serpent out of my hands and kicked the dagger away in shock as he gripped me by the collar. Everyone seemed to be in shock, Atlas and Artemis were silent, Luke was watching, open-mouthed and the Hunters and Perses had stopped their fight momentarily and stared at us in surprise.

 _Beats me._ I could slowly feel my vision clearing as I opened my eyes, no green tint or hazy smoke covered it and I could see a blue glow enveloping my body as the Ophiotaurus dissolved into golden smoke. It was like a small bubble was steadily growing in my chest, spreading throughout my body as my mind went blank at the feeling.

The rogue god threw me down to my feet and backed away, as if my very presence burned. Standing up easily, I didn't even feel the poison from the Lydian Drakon as I stared down the god. This feeling... It was exciting. Addictive. _Powerful_. Ancient power coursed through my veins, like electricity shooting through my bloodstream as I faced the god in front of me.

Looking down at my hands momentarily, I could see the blue glow fade to an outline that pulsed softly as strange symbols, Greek, Latin and English burned white on my skin.

Perses let out a furious roar and charged at me, batting the Hunters aside in his fit of rage, he raised his spear at stabbed at me.

 _Dodge._ A single word formed in my mind and my body responded instantly, sliding to the side as the spear shot by my neck, centimetres from the flesh. _Now counter._ My hands shot up and grabbed the Titan's spear, gripping it with both hands. I tore it out of his grasp and threw it aside where it rolled to the feet of Atlas.

 _Warp._ Transitioning into my phase had never been easier, no weapon required as I surged forward and crashed my fist into the Titan's face, sending him sprawling onto the ground. The symbols painted on my arms glowed brightly as I flicked my hand outwards, four Heraldic Arms, the Trident of the Sea, Longsword of War, Blade of the Hearth and Sickles of Agriculture circled around me protectively, their tips pointed to the fallen Titan.

The Titan shot to his feet instantly, pulling twin spears, both completely identical; he adopted a completely defensive formation as he eyed the weapons warily.

 _Zip._ The Titan rolled to the side, the Blade of Hestia flying by and slamming into a tree behind him where it exploded in a cloud of black and blue smoke, melted wood and chunks of dirt raining down onto Perses as he sprung to his feet immediately and charged.

 _Experimenting your strengths. Do not show weakness_. My body followed my mind's instructions as I parried his spear with the Trident of the Sea, locking it between the prongs as his other spear was blocked by the reformed Blade of the Hearth, its blade glowing white as it blocked the swing mid air.

While the Titan was occupied, I immediately sent the two Sickles flying through the air and dodged back nimbly, my powers propelling me back, stopping by the edge cliff and dropping into a crouching stance as the Sickles curved into the Titan's back, exploding and sending him stumbling forward.

"Ha!" Perses laughed, his armor was torn and slightly dented at the back as he stood, unwavering at my new power. "If that was the best you could do, then I'm disappointed." He hefted his spears and beckoned for me to come. "I can easily handle five weapons. I've had hundreds thrown at me before!" He chuckled at the sight of the Sickles returning, their ghostly form glowing brightly in the afternoon sunlight.

Letting out a low snarl of anger, I warped _up,_ scaling vertically into the sky until I stopped, _floating_ in the sky as the Titan blinked up at me.

" _Having high ground won't help you, demigod!"_ He roared, swords from all ages erupting from below the earth, from Eastern katanas to European claymores as the surges up towards me, like a wave of arrows flying up in an arc of death.

I sneered at the attempt and clicked my fingers, every weapon I had at my disposal shielding me from the onslaught that rained by, weapons glancing off the Arms and sending sparks into the air as the Titan's onslaught continued, the wave of weapons surging by my makeshift shield.

" _Come down and fight me!"_ He threw his spear in his left arm, the projectile tearing through my defenses and whistling by, leaving a long thin gash on my cheek. _Very well._ The voice in my haed snarled angrily at the invitation and I laughed scornfully at the Titan, the new power in my hands making me strong, confident.

" _As you wish."_ And like an angel descending from the heavens, I surged down, phasing through the swords that hurtled by me as I zigzagged in between them, leaving a trail of blue in my wake as my Arms hurtled down towards the Titan. He grinned manically in response and summoned a shield from the earth, my Heraldic Arms crashing into them and exploding on contact, leaving cobalt smoke clouds and crystals in their chaotic aftermath.

" _Perses!_ " I screamed, my hands gripping Riptide as I blasted through his shield with the Blade of Hestia, the arms reforming with the seemingly endless supply of energy I had stored within my body, its ammunition never ending as I sent them into his face. Tearing through the bronze of his helmet, I drew a long gash from his forehead to his cheek and drove the blade into his shoulder.

The Titan roared in pain and grabbed at me as his human-form slowly grew to that of a fifteen foot Titan as he tore the now-tiny blade out of his shoulder and discarded it to the side. I easily let his hand pass through me and reformed to launch another volley of explosive Arms before warping away, the Titan raising his two now-massive spears and stabbing at me.

I backed away and sent another thunderous wave of arms and adopted a defensive position, I had all feeling in my hands and the numbness from the poison had long gone, leaving me completely in control of my body.

" _Sparti!"_ Perses roared in anger at another failed attempt to swipe me from the sky, instantly; six familiar undead skeletons climbed out of a small crevice in the ground created by the Titan's spear, instead of the machete's they had previously been holding, they now carried bows and firearms.

All of the weapons pointed at me.

I took that as my chance to use what I had learned on my first day with the Hunt, focusing on ensuring my body wouldn't be touched as I relaxed all feeling, letting all the tension loose as gunshots could be heard and the _twang_ of bows signified they had fired.

 _Focus, allow nothing to touch you, phase in any direction to prevent anything from touching you_. I allowed my body to dart through the air, always dodging by millimetres as I closed my eyes and ducked, dived and dodged from the deadly projectiles.

Staring down at the recovering Titan and the skeletal warriors as they readied their weapons again, I used my lessons from the second day.

 _Use your warp to close distance, not to attack._ I surged forward, feeling my body react to the currents flowing inside me as I dissolved into the air, allowing the wave of bullets and arrows to sail by harmlessly as I approached the skeletons at an alarming rate, Perses as still hunched over and started to shrink back down into his human-sized form before growing back into his Titan form, as if keeping that state was mentally draining.

Third lesson, I leapt out of my warp and twisted gracefully in midair to avoid an arrow. _Use several weapons to mark warp points._ I flicked my palm forward again, my rematerialised weapons sinking into four skeletons but not exploding, the _Sparti_ , feeling no pain, ignored the wounds and continued firing.

 _Warp once_ , I slammed into a Sparti where the Trident of the Sea had impaled, plunging it even deeper with the force of the warp and beheading it before warping to my second destination, where the Blade of Hestia and torn off a leg on the undead warrior, I lashed out with a savage kick and smirked in satisfaction when the skull burst under my foot. _Warp._ I landed on the shoulder sof a different Sparti and loped its head off easily with the dual sickles. _Warp._ I grabbed at the longsword embedded in the chest of the skeleton and dragged upwards, splitting it in half from the ribcage to the head.

Fourth lesson, _Bright lights help with situation._ The blinding trail I had left in my wake of destruction disorientated the ruthless killing machines as I teleported towards them. Fifth and final lesson: _Fight unpredictably._ Feinting a stab with the Trident in my right hand before splitting a Sparti in two with the Blade of Hestia in my left as I launched it into the final Sparti, obliterating it in a cloud of black smoke.

I could practically imagine Phoebe's grin.

Shooting back into the air, I allowed myself to catch my breath as Perses turned, somewhat surprised that his killing machines had been, well; _killed._

"Demigod! I will kill you!" His anger seemed to boost his own morale as he picked up his discarded sword and spear before turning to me, his anger blazing through his eyes.

"You already tried, you already failed." _Thank the gods for Thalia's influence._ I grinned cheekily at the Titan and blocked his strike the Sickles of Agriculture, his blade glancing off the sides. Launching my weapons again, I shot up even higher, towards the clouds as my Heraldic Arms returned, lighting up the clouds in a bright blue.

I had a somewhat ingenious plan, warping in between the clouds in the sky, lighting them all up in a bright blue; I couldn't help but marvel my own smartness as I rained down weapons individually frm different directions, fighting unpredictably.

I could see Perses down below, his spear had transformed into a shield and he held it in front of him defensively as he slowly turned, his eyes never leaving the clouds. Letting out another volley, I spotted Zoë and Phoebe helping Thalia up, they had tied Luke with the straps on their bags and he was unconscious beside them.

Waving the dark blue smoke from his face, Perses glared at the clouds angrily, as if I had been irritating him the whole time. " _Come down from the sky! Fight me, you coward!"_ He seemed to notice how the cloud's bright blue tint had faded back to their original gray as he lowered his shield momentarily. "Wha-" I reformed behind him, all four arms glowing brightly as I sent them crashing into his back.

"Grahh!" He stumbled forward in pain as they exploded, tearing through his metal breastplate as if it was paper as I warped back down to the ground, where Pistinemo watched me impassively as I skidded to a stop beside Phoebe and Zoë, both had long since overpowered Luke together during the fight and had gathered Thalia and Bianca by the cage where Annabeth watched the confrontation, her eyes wide.

"Zoë." I grunted, wiping the sweat forming on my forehead as I cast a side glance to the Huntress, her skin pale as she looked up to the Talos-sized Titan in horror. "I can't keep on doing this for long; we need the help of Atlas and Artemis." She blinked as she registered my words, her mouth forming a perfect O when her panic at seeing the Titan cleared in her mind.

"What? But who'd carry the weight of the world?" Phoebe still had her eyes trained on Pistinemo warily, his poisonous green eyes still on me as he watched the fight from his sitting position by the rock formation next to the shattered tank that once held the Ophiotaurus.

"Us." Thalia had woken after Zoë had passed her a flask of Nectar, Bianca was still passed out beside her. The daughter of Hades seemed pale and shivering and shadows seemed to stretch towards her, as if they were trying to grasp her and drag Bianca into the darkness, "We can free Annabeth to help. The three of us can at least hold it for a short while." She drove her spear into the lock of the cage and kicked the door open, Zoë nodded grimly and turned to the Titan, his wounds healing as a massive steel blade slowly materialised in the air beside him, glowing a blood red.

"No." I stopped the trio going to the Goddess and Titan. "Zoë goes too." She blinked at me and raised an eyebrow as I slowly rose into the air again, the Heraldic Arms reforming by my side. "When we free Atlas he'll fight, I don't want you to get caught in the oncoming crossfire." She blinked at my logic, realisation dawning on her face.

"But that t'would mean that thee-" I shook off her concerns and brushed the dirt off my silver suit jacket as I readied myself for the next onslaught the Titan would bring, his blood red blade had finished forming and he crouched into an offensive stance, every step seemed to shake the ground as he edged forward.

"We all know I'll die anyway, I don't want you to die, end of story!" I hurtled forward, ignoring her response and warped between the Titan's feet, occasionally reforming to send a volley of Heraldic Arms before continuing to evade his rapid thrusts and sweeps in the air. " _Hurry up! I can't do this for much longer!"_ I parried the massive blade with every weapon I had and was sent flying back in mid-air from the resonating force as the Titan stumbled back.

Recovering before I could punish him for his unsteadiness, the Titan sneered at me coldly, his eyes narrowing as he scanned my tiring form. "For the power to topple Olympus, it sure is weak." He laughed at me mockingly, his voice echoing down the mountain. "Perhaps this just shows how weak the Olympians are!" I stopped my fall mid-air and propelled myself forward, the word still spinning from my dizzy shock.

" _You don't seem to have the knowledge to use the power._ " I almost dropped out of the sky from shock as the rogue god, Pistinemo, spoke it my mind. _"It's all about overpowering your opponent, isn't it? That'd never work with Perses."_ I turned to stare at the apathetic man as he looked up at me, almost bored as he allowed the demigods right beside him to hack away at the chains that binded the goddess and Titan.

" _Focus on that feeling of rage inside you, and utilise it as a tool, not an emotion. Anger is something that can overpower you and control you, harness the energy created from it and-"_

" _Shut up!_ " I roared in fury as I stabbed into the Titan's shin, hearing him cry out in pain as the embedded blade exploded inside the wound, sending golden ichor and blackened flesh flying into the air. _I'm doing perfectly fine the way I am!_ I slid over the passing blade and launched another volley, my weapons leaving trails of silver light as the Titan fell to one knee, his face curled up in pain.

I couldn't go on like this much longer, and my initial outburst of energy had calmed down considerably in the last ten minutes as my body, unable to hold so much power, started tiring out rapidly. _A time limit?_ My mind suggested unhelpfully as I stabbed the Trident of the Sea into Perses' foot and warped back out of the blast radius when the blade exploded.

" _Got you!"_ I summoned another volley, ignoring my body screaming in protest as it tried to cope with the repeated onslaught I sent at the Titan, keeping my body in the air and my continuous warping. I could feel the sickness building in my stomach, threatening to overcome me.

" _Die!"_ I sent a final blade into the Titan's exposed skin and smiled in satisfaction as he fell to his knees, his blade clattering down to the earth beside him.

"No." Perses let out a deep chuckle, to my shock; his injuries were gone; leaving only small jagged scars where large gaping wounds used to be. "I got _you_." I heard Pistinemo sigh in my brain before his presence retreated as the Titan swatted me with a free hand, sending me hurtling down to the earth where I crashed into the ground beside the others and rolled to a stop.

" _Perseus!"_ Zoë momentarily abandoned her job of breaking Atlas' chains and rolled me onto my side, I could feel the adrenaline wearing off as the pain overtook me, my blackened left arm was twisted in an odd angle and a surging pain in my left leg told me that something had shattered inside.

"What the-"Phoebe shattered the final chain next to Atlas and fell to her knees beside me. "What in the name of Artemis-" I stopped her from reaching into her bag for a flask of ambrosia and pointed to the silent Atlas, who stared at me silently, as if he had expected this very outcome to happen.

"Go. World. Free them." I grunted, my head dropping to the side as I watched Zoë send me an extremely worried look –It was really cute, by the way- as she dragged Phoebe to the weight of the sky and rolled beside their mistress, Annabeth and Thalia taking the sides of Atlas while Bianca remained unconscious beside them.

"My girls, I cannot do this to you." Artemis watched in shock as they joined her, arms pushing the rock up into the sky. "You would die!" The goddess of the Hunt had tears in her eyes as she gazed at the four maidens in shock.

"Lady Artemis." Atlas sighed, "If I still know my daughter, it is that she will be extremely stubborn with these kind of things." Zoë flashed a rare smile to the Titan, which he sent right back at her. Artemis still looked uncertain, but a glare from both Phoebe and Zoë quickly made her roll out from underneath as Atlas did the same, immediately, all four girls winced as the weight started to crush them when the other two main pillars of strength disappeared. Artemis leaned down and gave her two Hunters a kiss on the forehead, her face full of guilt.

"I will finish with this as soon as possible; you shall not wait for long." Zoë nodded and Phoebe grunted as she bit down into her cheek to stop herself from crying out. The goddess of the Hunt turned to me and nodded, a strange sort of pride flashing momentarily through her eyes.

"You fought well, Perseus. Using the techniques my Hunters taught you and buying time, you have my respect." With that, she turned away quickly to the Perses, her silver hunting knives appearing in her hands as the Titan and his sword shrunk back down into his human form.

"How charming, a family reunion! I'd hate to break the atmosphere." He levelled the sword with his chest and crouched, his spear shooting from the earth into his left arm. "Let's see if you provide more entertainment than that little pity over there, moon goddess." She snarled and response and leapt at him, her silver knives dancing in a flurry of death as she easily parried, blocked or dodged every swing the Titan sent her way.

Atlas' pin-striped suit disappeared and his silver battle armor reappeared on his chest, his blade; a wicked leaf blade, hung by his waist with several others as he cast a look at his daughter, his expression filled with pride.

"You have come a long way ever since Heracles." He smiled at her ducked head as she too struggled with the weight. "I promise to get you out of there instantly, do not worry." She nodded mutely as Atlas turned to me hurriedly, drawing his blades as Artemis leapt back from her onslaught, small cuts of golden ichor covered her arms as she smirked at the Titan.

"Never did I think I would fight alongside a Titan." Atlas rolled his eyes and adopted an offensive stance, both blades positioned so that he could easily attack and parry at the same time, he stared at Perses, who clutched his shoulder in anger as the ichor that spilled out burned the grass beneath him, turning their vibrant green to a charred black.

"Not something to be told in tales." He muttered gruffly as Artemis slammed the hilts of her daggers together, the blades on each side extending and curving until she held a bright silver bow in her hand, a glowing silver arrow appearing in her fingers. Atlas looked at me momentarily, and then to the rogue god watching the fight beside us.

"You did well, lad. I owe you that." He charged the Titan of Destruction, his blades arcing through the air as both Titans clashed, bronze against steel, swords against spears. Artemis leapt in beside him, slashing with the sharp edges of her bow before pouncing back to release a glittering arrow into the Titan's side, the arrow exploding with the power of moonlight.

- _Ante Mortem-_

"How fun." Pistinemo finally spoke up, the glint in his eyes betrayed amusement as he looked at our quest members, to the fight between gods and Titans to finally resting his gaze on me as I glared back defiantly. "This was touching, truly. All of this 'I can't let you die, I need to help everyone'" He leapt off the rock nimbly and strolled casually towards my broken form.

"Do you know that voice? The one in your head this entire quest?" He sat down beside me, now that I could see him properly, his high-cheekbone face, the glittering poisonous eyes and the sinister lopsided smile on his face made me pale drastically. "That was me, your _father._ " I let out a loud laugh, completely oblivious to the yelling sent his way from Thalia and Phoebe as he brushed a stray lock from my face.

"How touching. You even have your mother's expression." He chuckled; sadness seemed to flit by his expression, disappearing as fast as it came. "I tried to influence you, to join our side, to see our meaning." He stroked my cheek in an almost loving manner, but his cold hard gaze still hadn't moved from my eyes.

"What-" I managed, as I tried to push him away with my right hand. "What do you want?" I hissed at Pistinemo, my _father_.

"I want..." His expression darkened as he caught my hand and gently placed it back on the ground. "I want my son to join the side he rightfully should be on." He cradled my face in his hands as I glared at him, the sounds of battle in the background fading as I stared at the man, the man that had left me when I was a child, the man that had been the reason _Gabe_ had come into my life. "I want my son, to be a ruler among rulers, to be powerful and have other bow to his feet instead of letting others push him around! I want _a son who isn't a coward!_ " He gripped my face, his nails digging into my skin painfully.

"Too bad, it must run in the family." I managed weakly as he slammed my head into the ground. "Is this-" I choked against the dirt, hearing Zoë's shout and Thalia's screams. "What they call parental neglect?" I chuckled and grunted in pain as the god kicked me away from him, his foot painfully stepping on my arm.

"You don't see it, do you?" He twisted his foot as I let out a scream of pain, Artemis turned from her fight and spotted the god when Zoë cried out, hurtling over at a frightening speed, I could only watch as the man, the reason I was weak, my _father_ , the _traitor;_ clicked his fingers, a ceremonial bronze dagger appearing in his hands, blades, axes and daggers slamming down into the ground around us, forming a cage of ethereal arms.

The auburn haired goddess released a silver arrow to the god, but... It seemed so far away, moving slowly as it arced through the air as the god lowered the knife to my abdomen. The moonlight arrow slipping through a gap in the cage slowly.

"Yes." He had a crazed look in his eyes as he stared at me distastefully, his _son_. "I'll just sacrifice you to my master, that way he will receive his power and I get rid of a small stain on my record." The tip pierced my flesh, slowly entering my body as he ignored the agonised cries from Annabeth, the threats being spewed from Thalia's mouth or the fury coming from the Hunters as Zoë and Phoebe rolled out from beneath, leaving Thalia and Annabeth crying out in pain as the ran towards us. They raised their daggers and pounded at the weapon cage, small cracks appearing as Pistinemo drove it deeper.

I stared at the dagger, its hilt buried deep into my stomach, the blade piercing through my body and into the grass underneath. I couldn't feel anything, just a small pain that slowly spread through my body, starting from the wound and amplifying in pain as the man smiled in satisfaction.

"The first blood in the new wa-" Several things happened at once, the arrow slammed into his shoulder and exploded in a blazing cloud of silver as the weapon cage shattered into dark green crystals as he stumbled back, his eyes glazed over in pain. "You _bitch!_ " He screamed in agony as the silver moonlight seemed to eat at his flesh. The Hunters bolted forward, Phoebe reaching into her bag for ambrosia and nectar while Zoë applied pressure to the wound, unwilling to take out the dagger for fear of bloodloss.

"Would you like to take on an Olympian, _minor god?!_ " Artemis sneered at him, her bow splitting in the middle and turning back into her silver hunting daggers. "Run to your master, he'll know what to do." He roared in anger and scooped up the tied up Luke by the ground beside him. "Run back to your master, we have prevailed this day."

"You'll regret your decision of letting me run, moon goddess." He hissed as the flesh on his arm slowly melted, revealing the golden ichor and bone underneath. Edging back to the cliff, he let himself fall off with the son of Hermes in his grasp.

" _Pistinemo! Get back here!_ " Perses screamed from the headlock Atlas had him in as the Titan of Endurance threw him under the sky, both girls still remaining under it immediately ducking the moment the Titan was underneath. _"No!"_ Atlas dropped his weapons instantly and bounded towards us, his face creased with worry as he ignored the screaming Titan who was struggling under the weight of the world.

"Can you heal him?" Thalia crawled to my side and cradled her head, big fat tears rolling down her cheeks and dripping down onto me. " _Heal him!"_ She screamed at the other two Hunters, both of whom were still applying bandages and nectar to the wound.

"Oh gods." Annabeth had stumbled next to me, cradling my broken left hand gently. "It's poison, from a Lydian Drakon." Her eyes widened in horror as Artemis turned to us when the rogue god disappeared from the mountain, his presence leaving the mountain itself.

I wanted to say something witty, like; _Duh, Annabeth, aren't you a child of wisdom?_ But all that came out was a strangles groan when Zoë tore the knife out, instantly trying to fill the gaping hole in my stomach with bandages and nectar. My head felt light, as if I was floating away, with only a small thread to keep me in place.

"St- Stop." I grasped Zoë's shoulder and turned her to me, part of my brain in shock at the fact that she had tears in her eyes. "Don't waste-" I coughed violently, covering my silver jacket with black blood. "-Poison anyway." She shook herself from my grasp and continued to bark incoherent orders to Phoebe, who yelled something back and tore at her parka, using the cloth to stem the blood.

"Girls." Artemis' voice was stern and commanding, both girls looked up immediately at her grave tone. "Leave him; it will not work no matter what." Thalia pushed away the goddess and snarled at her angrily, her electric blue eyes filled with anger.

"I just found him again; he can't just _die_ like this!" She pressed her forehead against mine and shuddered, she felt so warm... So _alive_.

"Hey," I murmured, my own tears rolling down as she continued to sob. "Hey, hey. It's alright. It's alright." I reached up and patted her cheek gently, ignoring the horrible feeling in my chest when I saw the hand, ashen gray and weak. "I'm going to die, stop it and let me say something." I let out a shuddering laugh and brushed away Phoebe's bandages, their sterile white stained a bright red.

"Phoebe-" She refused to look at me, hiding behind her ginger hair as she stared at anything but me. "Is Bianca ok?" She shrugged slowly, as if it confused her.

"We-" I winced at how emotional her voice sounded. "We don't know, she fired an arrow at your dad and then suddenly collapsed when some shadows got near to her." I nodded, a tranquil smile on my face as my eyelids started to drop. "You owe me ten drachmas." I giggled as she finally stared at me, her eyes a myriad of emotion as she wiped at them, staining her cheeks with a crimson red.

"You're dying from the poison anyway." I gave her a soft smile as she turned away again, driving a fist into the ground beside her angrily. My eyes seemed so heavy, I wanted to give in and rest, to sleep for a long time.

 _No. Not yet._

"Annabeth, better hurry back," The daughter of Athena looked up at me abruptly when I spoke to her, her own tears slowly dropping as she gripped my broken hand even tighter. "Your mortal family misses you-" The feeling of sleepiness overwhelmed me and I closed my eyes.

 _NO!_

Tearing them back open, I raised my right hand, it felt like lead; my strength disappearing as the thread holding me started to snap. I reached into my storage, hands fumbling as my fingers finally brushed against a sheet of paper, pulling it out; I turned to the last Hunter, the person I had hoped to live throughout the encounter.

The person I loved.

"Zoë." She looked down on me, even if her face showed no emotion, her lower lip quivered and her eyes were filled with unshed tears. I took a final look around me, the mounds of dirt from the battle, the grass stained black and golden, Atlas driving his blade into his ground in silent memoriam, Artemis sitting on her knees, a conjured silver shroud and ornate dagger placed on the soft cloth as she regarded me silently, a flash of guilt passing in her eyes.

I used the last strength in my body, the last ounce of it, and placed the stack of papers in the former Hesperide's hands, a small ballpoint pen balanced on top as I closed my eyes, enjoying the coldness and freedom from pain.

" _Happy birthday"_

 _-Post Mortem-_

Lady Artemis returned for the Winter Solstice soon after, with her chariot carrying the four quest members and Titan for the meeting with her Olympian Council, where she would contribute the storytelling of the quest members as they bravely stood in the Council, surrounded by deities vastly stronger than them and recounted their tale.

The vote had been close, Hestia had been allowed to vote due to how serious the situation was and the council stopped at six to six, Artemis being the tiebreaker.

The Council approved of the plan to prepare for war, although not much could be done but cautiously prepare for the oncoming war as they knew nothing of Kronos' whereabouts or of what he was doing, the plan was to strengthen the camp defenses and start training more immortals to join the fight.

The reward ceremony passed by quickly soon after, with the four being granted a gift for their bravery in battle, Thalia Grace; although still in tears, was given a new spear and was offered a place in the hunt, to which she immediately agreed to become the second lieutenant, to find a new family or bury the old memories, no one would know.

Annabeth Chase was also offered a position in the Hunters, but she refused, saying that she couldn't leave the son of Poseidon, Theseus 'Theo' Triton, She immediately left afterwards with a new laptop filled with architectural plans by her mother and went to console the daughter of Zeus.

Phoebe had been vocal in her request, telling the council to bring her newest 'brother' back, the council refused and Ares instead took his child out of the council as she was deemed emotionally unstable, they would reward her soon afterwards.

Zoë Nightshade was given the gift of having her Father pardoned, and she bowed once to Zeus, then her lady Artemis, whom looked at her in sympathy before leaving for the Hunt at Camp Half-Blood wordlessly.

Atlas returned to Mount Orthrys, where Perses still struggled and howled to collect the body of the boy, his stilled features tranquil and peaceful, the simple silver shroud covering the gaping hole in his stomach while the ornate dagger was clipped to his chest, by a breast pocket where a small clasp hung. It was something Atlas wished he would never do again in his immortal life, carrying the boy's limp body down the mountain, his daughters crying out in anguish as they surrounded the son of Pistinemo, his ashen white face devoid of all emotion, the warmth in his body leeched by the ground.

Even worse was when the Titan stepped into the Camp's boundaries, although he had been pardoned and given a vital role in the war after swearing allegiance on the Styx, he couldn't help but feel the heated gazes of children in the Camp as he was led by a silent Phoebe to what was the Amphitheatre, her grip on Percy's limp hand.

Atlas had been greeted silently by Artemis with an almost unnoticeable nod as the Hunters sat behind her on the rows of seats, their entire mood was quiet and sullen as Phoebe took one last look at the face of her dead friend before turning away to a camper, a child of Ares with ginger hair, and cried quietly into his chest.

His daughter was nowhere to be seen, but he could hear the cries of some campers, a boy with sea green eyes and an unruly black mop similar to Percy's shoved past the crowd as Atlas made his way down the steps, his eyes wide with the rejection of believing that his best friend had perished. Two identical twins, their faces pale, the one on the left reached into his pocket and took out a small card; it read 'Percy Jackson' in silver writing and to Atlas' heavy heart – Was a letter from his mother, typed in a computer and signed with a small packet of blue cookies.

As he laid the body of the boy on the stage where another shroud awaited him- a dull colorless white, Lady Artemis stepped forward, demanding that the boy would have a shroud akin to a Hunter's, much to the shock of the campers and Hunters alike, and covered the body with a bright silver cloth with a symbol of a bow and sword that pulsated softly in the night's moonlight.

No, Atlas would endure the curse of carrying a thousand worlds rather than see all these children, broken hearted at the sight of one courageous boy who was now lying dead before him.

The funeral had been swift, the immortal trainer of Heroes starting to speak before emotion caught his voice, he had trained the boy personally when he had been suffering through his darkest times, teaching him to be happy, to embrace who he was. And instead refused to burn the body now, as he would burn it in the morning, where he would be emotionally prepared to.

Later on in the night, Atlas would sit by the Amphitheatre, at the very back and brood silently, at how he had been the one to push the boy to go past his limits, even though it would break him. Why did it bother him so much, if he had sent hundreds of men to die before?

He almost missed someone creeping in, a girl with their black hair tied in a braid as the girl who had entered the Amphitheatre, it was as she stepped next to the light of the fire did Atlas recognise who she was.

His very own daughter, Zoë Nightshade.

He watched silently as she pulled back the cloth slightly, revealing the boy's face and brush her hands through his hair almost affectionately, her face pale and hands trembling, she clutched what seemed to be a stack of papers in her hand as she slowly drew the cover over his face and fled.

No. Emotions were never something Atlas and his Family were good at.

 **You guys hate me. Don't you.**

 **I hate me too. I do**

 **I'll probably brush this up later on but REVIEW ANSWERING TIME! I've decided to shorten the review answering so that I don't end up spoiling something and making my word count much longer than it actually is because that'd make me a terrible person.**

 **SpartanBoy: in Chapter 7: Good chapter, though I would have gone a more dramatic entrance, and possible get the shit kicked out of me.**

 **O.o, art thou'st satisfied now? (Evil laughing)**

 **Pandaz: major apologies for not typing it all out just because of the sheer fact that I am a lazy bum who deserves you everlong hate.**

 **I apologise, call me old fashioned- but I can't do hares or anything more than a love triangle, I simply was not brought up like that and my family would disown me if I even considered the option.**

 **BUT HAVING A WEAK PERCY IS A VERY BIG BREATH OF AIR YEAH? EAT THAT HATERS MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA**

 **And yes- it does sound suspiciously like Noctis, who is Ardin in this, then...? ( 3)**

 **BUT DON'T FEEL DISCOURAGED IF I ON'T TYPE OUT YOUR LONG REVIEWS, I WILL READ THEM AND REREAD THEM AND DISSOLVE INTO GIGGLES BEFORE REREADING THEM**

 **I can't believe I actually have people re-reading my shitty little works. You have my gratitude, respect and love all squished up into one big ball of pasta sa- that isn't the point. But you have my thanks.**

 **: Magnificient chapter can't wait fr more please update soon**

 **Beep boop. Just kidding, thanks for the support!**

 **Dinklebergsc3: My day was sucky then u updated then it was good now its me feeling super excited for the next chapter**

 **I got this at three in the morning, and I'm really happy that I managed to do something with my terrible writing. I hope to make everyone's days better as an average writer with little to no experience.**

 **Y r there no USERNAMES: Great job so far. The characters are interesting and original and I like the way you're taking the story. Great work!**

 **Thanks! I like to imagine that my characters are interesting, but that's my own imagination, sometimes I just take some time and read my own story—bar the cringe—but I like to think from a reader's perspective, like; what would make this scene more interesting? It's like I post a somewhat bare chapter and then work on it after reading it.**

 **KryptertJ: Damn, that was a pretty good chapter you got there:**

 **Damn, I like to think it was pretty good too. Took me 14 listens to Novacaine to get at least a bit of the scene right.**

 **Death Fury: 'Great job' and 'I love it'**

 **I love your small responses, even if they don't have much information- it still makes me really happy that people are taking their time to say these small things, it really encourages me as an author and I'll try to work harder for you guys!**

 **OverLordRevan: awesome chapter, though I think Bianca was a bit cold considering how she was throughout the last chapters.**

 **Yeah, I'm still trying to fix that, but how do you portray someone who knows you're not dead, but is too afraid to tell anyone about the fact that she knows things about death that others don't? I had to take a look inside a book called 'Numbers' to try to at least grasp some kind of understanding. Sorry about my terrible writing dude.**

 **Sparky548: Great chapter and Escaped Titan made me think of Atlas as a good Titan like Bob but not being manipulated by Percy.**

 **I know right? Thanks for your support to me and don't you think Izzybella12 has that kind of way with words that can make the worst villain seem nice or vice versa? I loved the book.**

 **I dunno about the next chapter, I still got my other story going on right now and I've made a bit of a blunder.**

 **Check out my profile for a poll! It's going to list the story ideas I currently have, so go ahead and click on it! I'll form a vague idea of what I want to post tomorrow.**

 **Potato pohtato**


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